Glitch Feminist Worldbuilding for Reproductive Justice
Open Access
- Author:
- Condit-Summerson, Maggie Rose
- Graduate Program:
- Art Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 02, 2024
- Committee Members:
- Vagner Mendonca-Whitehead, Program Head/Chair
Hil Malatino, Outside Unit & Field Member
Kimberly Powell, Major Field Member
Wanda Knight, Major Field Member
Karen Keifer-Boyd, Chair & Dissertation Advisor - Keywords:
- glitch feminist art pedagogy
reproductive justice
virtual worldbuilding
glitch
feminist art pedagogies
digital culture/technologies
data surveillance
transnational feminisms
virtual exhibition - Abstract:
- In the contemporary digital era, networked technologies are becoming increasingly entangled with the various domains of everyday life, including reproductive/sexual health. World-wide, emerging technologies are expanding pernicious forms of bias, surveillance, and other harms that disproportionately impact marginalized communities and contribute to historical/ongoing forms of reproductive injustice. To respond to these phenomena, how might feminist artists/educators utilize digital technologies, online spaces, and modes of creation to glitch (i.e., disrupt) emerging injustices, build collective resistance, and honor lived experiences? This dissertation revolves around the development of a virtual exhibition featuring international artists whose interdisciplinary practices explore the many facets of the reproductive justice framework. The exhibition is comprised of ten immersive/interactive virtual worlds collaboratively constructed using a game design engine, subverting the typical use of such tools (which often reflect/perpetuate entrenched patriarchal norms) to instead generate care-ful feminist interventions. Each virtual world contains audio stories featuring artists’ voices, designed to enhance learners’/audiences’ engagement with the works. Additionally, the exhibition includes recommended readings/resources and participatory prompts. As a multi-sensory, flexible body of pedagogical materials, the exhibition is intended to raise learners’ critical consciousness surrounding urgent reproductive in/justice issues. The experimental virtual worldbuilding processes involved in assembling the exhibition embody glitch feminist art pedagogy, an emerging transdisciplinary methodological orientation toward research/teaching that incorporates encounters with digitally engaged feminist cultural production and centers practices of feminist disruption to build critical solidarities and encourage intervention against oppressive systems.