“What is Life else but a Dream? Apparitions, Vision, Fancy.”1 In the philosophical journal of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury, life thus defined is recorded in strange, incoherent ...

Autofiction in English seeks to establish that whilst autofiction—as both literary genre and critical nomenclature—developed in France and has a strong francophone tradition, it now also exists in ...

In 2015, I learned that both Marvel Comics and DC Comics have a long-standing tradition of employing male Puerto Ricans as part of their superhero creation teams.1 As a young female graduate studen...

Two images locate this special issue. The first is the portrait on the cover of “Life Writing in the Anthropocene,” from Anna Laurent’s immersive installation Flora: Exploration to Extinction. This...

On a recent trip to the Pantanal, the largest and best-preserved wetland ecosystem in the world, I heard our Brazilian guide say, “Wait, the jaguar will come out into the open.” The jaguar’s entry ...

Donna Haraway’s theorization of natureculture webs has enormous potential for reading collective biographies (prosopography) that involve genetic ‘roots’ and ‘routes’. This essay examines the genetic prosopographic narratives revolving around caste identity in India and their imbrication of genetic ‘testimony’ and contemporary cultural identities. Genetically informed prosopography in the Indian media emphasises genetic roots, cultural codes (of caste identities), genetic and cultural routes (of migrations) and social stratification. This is cultural genomics where genetic data seeks to explain cultural boundaries or practices, and instances natureculture. Then, such prosopographies, while tracing ancestry, make projections founded on biochemical stories and cultural genomics. Questions of social justice need to frame debates on genetic inevitability, and genetic variations must be seen within the cultural contexts of social hierarchization.

Recently, trans has taken on a number of important theoretical and critical meanings inside and outside the academy. It is a prefix that conveys the send of “across, through, over, to or on the oth...