Race, ethnicité, peuples autochtones et politique

L16 - Workshop: Solidarity, Coalition-Building, and Radical Futurities - Race, Technology, Politics and Radical Futures

Date: Jun 14 | Heure: 08:30am to 10:00am | Salle: 680 Sherbrooke St. West 1051

Chair/Président/Présidente : Hannah Wylie (University of Ottawa)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Hannah Wylie (University of Ottawa)

Indigenizing the Quantum Future of Artificial Intelligence with ‘Big Kinosoo:’ Quantum Computers, Settler (In)Stability and Personal (In)Security: Micheal Ziegler (University of Victoria)
Abstract: The posthuman world of the AI future is one premised upon the complexity and chaotic exogeneity (external to the observer’s environment) of quantum mechanics. In the posthuman world, the secure boundaries of human affairs are undone by the speed and power of AI, especially quantum AI. E.g., cryptology experts warn us that functional quantum computing will overcome all binary computing security protocols within minutes. Information Scholar Ron Eglash argues Western society is ill-prepared for the future of quantum computing because quantum understanding is misunderstood. This misunderstanding leads to fears of lost control, and desires for increased security and surveillance—settler domination is poised to grow exponentially. Eglash and others argue Western metaphysics causes a tendency to reduce complexity to simplistic endogenous models (closed systems) that ultimately obfuscate the true nature of reality, which causes these fears and desires to increase settler control that unravels any progress toward postcolonial futures. Thus, in line with Eglash and Cherokee philosopher Brian Burkhart, I argue Indigenizing posthuman science and politics in order to accept the limited control “human” creatures have over reality and the future. Indigenous scientific orientations begin and end in accepting exogenous forces and see humans not as arbiters of destiny but as one collaborator among (in)determinant others. To do this, I begin with the Cold Lake Cree First Nation’s myth, “Big Kinosoo.” This myth speaks of an unseen but known entity that has the power to destroy the canoe of a warrior. A primary lesson I see is: to not give into human exceptionalism and accept human powerlessness in the face of exogenous forces. The purpose of myth here is to develop an underlying metaphysics to reorient away from reductive Western ideals and to accept the instability of settler orders—orders that require costly, iterative, perpetual redesigning. Indigenous orientations to an intelligent universe better understand the quantum reality that underlies our socio-political world, which invites collaborative metaphysics instead of reductive metaphysics premised on control and domination of others. Ultimately, only in accepting the power of quantum indifference can we challenge the simplicity of settler instability and personal insecurity, allowing us to create a complex and collaborative future.

What is the (Political) Mainstream?: Taha Badaoui (York University)
Abstract: In politics, the concept of ‘mainstream’ is often used and assumed but little analyzed. Its popularity and lack of definition may be attributed to its obviousness, arousing little inquiry beyond first glance. But what assumptions and constructions underlie ‘mainstream’? Why does it appear to be fixed when it is vague and fluid? I contend that unpacking these constructions might shed light on processes of mainstreaming a range of political issues, as in: the mainstreaming of intersectional approaches; building alliances and common grounds among different groups; maintaining or re-configuring an existing status quo; the inching of far-right movements towards society’s mainstream; or addressing structural issues such as racism in my on-going research on Multiculturalism, Canadian Muslims, and Islamophobia in Canadian society. I propose a discourse-based analysis of ‘mainstream’ as it appears in the Canadian Journal of Political Science since 2000 for understanding the concept. Second, I draw on recent scholarship on analogical thinking as a core cognitive process rather than metaphor to grapple with questions relating to mainstreaming above. As metaphor took political analysis by storm, analogy took a back seat. But its recent resurgence might help us recast structures between profoundly non-analogical relations, or similarity-in-difference, in order to understand how agendas, ideas, groups, or movements, in view of their differences, aim at “common grounds”. What can this analogical approach say about approaching or re-imagining society’s mainstream? Arguably, I focus on analogy as a highly effective cognitive process, and a crucial one, in times of conflict and post-truths.

‘A Failure to Launch’ or Playing in sandboxes with radical futures, alliances, decolonization, an ethic of restoration, future-proofing and sovereignty: Keira Ladner (University of Manitoba)
Abstract: Conceived of as a hybrid or multi-platform research note which explores the failures that I have confronted alongside multiple research partners in a decade long struggle with sandboxes, systems developers and digital archival systems in an attempt to create digital bundles across a number of research projects. While the initial goal of creating a database (then several databases) which could facilitate community-oriented knowledge mobilization seemed simple, it quickly became evident that it was not. Simply stated, existing digital archival software lacks the flexibility to facilitate the imagining of digital futures beyond what these platforms already do and have thus, been unable to make existing software work in a way that addresses community needs and concerns. Working with designers and developers has not overcome these challenges as a new digital divide seems to be continuously reified as software developers demonstrate an inability to reimagine their digital sandboxed in a manner which embraces the philosophical and epistemological foundations of my research program including relationality (grounded in miyo we’citowin), decolonization (increasingly understood through an ethic of restoration), Indigenous sovereignties, transformative reconciliation (alliances) and envisioning radical futures. While I have presented on my digital sovereignties research previously at the CPSA, this presentation will provide an opportunity to workshop a research note which focusses both on the technological challenges of creating future-proof digital bundles and on the non-technological challenge of doing research in either MMIWG or comparative constitutional politics using digital bundles to advance Indigenous sovereignty, decolonization, radical futures and global networks (Indigenous and allied).