Tablet tabling: A speculative performance in two parts
Tablet tabling: A speculative performance in two parts
Submitter: Sydney Neuman, York University, srneuman@gmail.com
Abstract:
Medicated bodies sit uneasily among competing and continuous discourses about pharmaceuticals, ever-present but often unacknowledged. STS scholarship about pharmaceuticalization importantly highlights the normative potential of drug development and circulation, but often fails to meaningfully engage with those who use pharmaceuticals. STS scholarship about novel chemical subjectivities sometimes oscillates between disempowering those who use drugs and, for better or for worse, borrowing from neoliberal discourses of individual agency. Within these faltering narratives, the experiences, investments, and interests of pharmaceutical users are frequently rendered unintelligible. Drawing heavily from disability justice theory and activism, our presentation uses science fiction to envision a habitable subject position for medicated bodies. Operating around three imaginary drugs, our presentation has a split structure: on one hand, a scaled down trade show booth operated by a pharmaceutical rep, provides promotional materials and product monographs; and on the other, a space modeled after the activist practice of “tabling” and run by a member of an activist collective provides pamphlets and zines about accessing, producing, and using those drugs. Spatial organization, visual cues, and paratextual elements reflect a perceived split, while proximity and mirroring compromise it. Speaking through the present and orienting toward a future, this is an act of cultural resistance—envisions a more responsive, sustainable, and maybe even liberatory pharmaceutical practice.
Areas of STS Scholarship: Medicine and Healthcare, Social Movements and STS
Authors/Participants: Sydney Neuman, York University
Avery Nabata, Independent
