[...]litical ideals and ="trms">interests. behind the s="trms">cenes and up the stairs, an ="trms">interested London ="trms">bookseller became a significant actor in cultural events.

nominal ="trms">agency
actual person
principle architect


="large lg2" stl="font-size:111%"> ="trms">systems move in space, time, and process
some archaeological structures (that one uncover) are stable, some in motion, some evolving, some decaying ='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*“there is no way of ever getting access to the ="trms">past except through classification ="trms">systems of one ="trms">sort or another”='strcls'>* (at best) the ="trms">past could be reordered to better reflect multiple constituencies now and then. (="ppl">="ppl">Bowker ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Leigh ="ppl">="ppl">Star)


(my ="nms">ajayeb research='lgc'>: “="trms">epistemic virtues” ='lgc'>[or powers='lgc'>] of the 12th century encyclopedic ="trms">wonder-="trms">books,) “="trms">epistemological decorum” ='lgc'>--> (to capture) “truth-making practices in action” (Shapin)
='lgc'>==> (my commitment to ="nms">ajayeb='lgc'>:) engendering reflection on the ="trms">nature of and function of ="trms">categorization itself

a ="trms">wonderful bit of ="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">meta-="trms">language


The Exhausted Receiver


Margaret Cavendish description of a new ="trms">world, called the Blazing ="trms">World, her own brand of ="trms">natural philosophy under the guise of a romance... ="trms">science for ladies='lgc'>{
="lstsrd">1- enthusiasm ='lgc'>==> new ="trms">science
="lstsrd">2- study of ="trms">natural philosophy ='lgc'>==> cardinal virtues of ladies, modesty and ="trms">religious reverence
="lstsrd">3- leisure activity, appropriate ="trms">pasttime
='strcls'>*she participated in discussions central to her life and times='strcls'>* (am i participating in discussions central to my life and times='qstn'>?!)
Cavendish self-consciously produced herself as a fantastic and singular... (='lgc'>--> is that what i wish to produce='qstn'>?)
="prgrph">-Cavendish strangely shared with Quaker women an experimental life of proliferating genders, of dress, of personhood, og ="trms">agency, of ="trms">writing, of personae, but not of this ='strcls'>*enabling collectivity='strcls'>*

hermaphroditical view of things='lgc'>: partly artificial, partly ="trms">natural

status of clothing as a signifier of identity ='lgc'>[='lgc'><-- not always='lgc'>]
crossdressing (='at'>#my sticker period)


='lgc'>[modest witness='lgc'>] (='lgc'>--> ="ppl">="ppl">Haraway's ="trms">literal and ="trms">figurative queering of ="trms">categories)
the ="trms">rhetoric of the modest witness ='lgc'>--> the naked way of ="trms">writing, undorned, factual, compelling='lgc'>: “naked ="trms">writing” ='lgc'>[="trms">crafted in the context of being virtually ="trms">present at a de="trms">monstration, the ‘practice of credible witnessing’ (='lgc'>==> “truth”) in ="trms">techno="trms">science='lgc'>] was a proper reference point for feminist examination of objectivity and its ="trms">relationship to a ="trms">science founded in ex="trms">="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clusion of women. the new man of ="trms">science had to be chaste, modest, heterosexual man who desires yet eschews a sexually d="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">angerous yet chaste and modest woman ='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*female modesty was of the body; the new masculine virtue had to be of the mind='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[women's ="trms">presence turns out to disrupt the experiment (of the ="trms">scientist or sufi) altogether='lgc'>] (“='lgc'>[...='lgc'>]best of women, pious, chaste, modest, and compassionate, are rendered unfit for ="trms">science by the very qualities that make them the best of women”)
(="ppl">="ppl">Haraway, why credible witnessing is still at stake='lgc'>:) “this is the culture within which ="trms">contingent facts ='lgc'>[= the real case about the ="trms">world, the object ="trms">world='lgc'>] can be established with all the ="trms">authority, but none of the considerable problems, of transcendental truth. this self-invisibility is the ="trms">specifically ="trms">modern, European, masculine, ="trms">scientific form of the virtue of modesty. this is the form of modesty that pays off its practitioners in the coin of ="trms">epistemological and ="trms">social power. ='strcls'>*this kind of modesty is one of the founding virtues of what we call ="trms">modernity.='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] and so he is endowed with the remarkable power to establish the facts.”
="prgrph">-“he ='lgc'>[the civic man of reason='lgc'>] bears witness”='lgc'>: he is objective, he guarantees the clarity and purity of objects, as contestable re="trms">presentations, or as construced documents in their potent capacity to define the facts ='lgc'>=/= queering confidence='lgc'>: enable a more corporal, inflected, and optically ="trms">dense, if less elegant, kind of witness (to the ="trms">matters of fact to emerge in the ="trms">worlds of ="trms">techno="trms">science) ='lgc'>[='lgc'>--> ='thdf'>this is why i was trying to enable that kind of “optically ="trms">dense” and “less elegant” kind of corporeality in our work on ="ppl">Olearius='at'>#='lgc'>]
(="ppl">="ppl">Haraway ='lgc'>+ Potter ='lgc'>+ Shapin ='lgc'>+ Schaffer='lgc'>:) elaboration on ='thdf'>the idea of modest witness in which “modesty” might flip between either two sides='lgc'>:
="lstsrd">1- ="trms">historically masking a masculine solipsism as a preciously unmarked ="trms">category='lgc'>: modest witness ='lgc'>=/= haec vir ='lgc'>: God forbid that the experimental way of life have queer foundations
="lstsrd">2- (working across partialities) to create “a more adequate, self-critical ="trms">techno="trms">science committed to ="trms">situated knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edges”


a nameless sin about which, without describing, he sought counsel

oratory

tension between dedication and prevarication (zaban bazi زبان بازی)

(='lgc'>[let's not='lgc'>] being a ="trms">member of) a “class” of those whose truth-telling was privileged
in certain ="trms">sorts of people credibility was ="trms">embodied


="nms">ajayeb.net's style of ="trms">writing ='lgc'>=/= a style of ="trms">writing driven by the needs of ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">readers who are relatively un="trms">skilled (in practical divinity, casuistry, or theology, and so on)


='strcls'>*** what kind of classification work, work of ="trms">historical re="trms">presentation, is necessary now to show over time with greater clarity, in cooperation with more and more ="trms">communities of practice, that in the best of all possible ="trms">worlds, at any given moment, the ="trms">past could be reordered to better reflect multiple constituencies now and then='qstn'>? ='strcls'>***
(="ppl">Katie ="ppl">King ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">="ppl">Bowker ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Leigh ="ppl">="ppl">Star)

='lgc'>[my ="nms">ajayeb-making is about='lgc'>] partial connections (across time) ='lgc'>==> ="trms">communities


(='lgc'>[my point in work on ="nms">ajayeb:='lgc'>] we need) the possbility of competing and shifting claims on individuals (='lgc'>=/= self-making individual), rather persons with partial connections (across time) and queer ="trms">relations with ="trms">past="trms">present ='lgc'>==> negotiating forms of evidence ='lgc'>==> units of analysis ='lgc'>==> ="trms">past reordered

="large lg3" stl="font-size:111%"> ='lgc'>[with the help of ="ppl">Katie ="ppl">King's figure of ="trms">writing ="trms">technologies:='lgc'>] i am ="trms">interested in and ="trms">interested to help make ="trms">historical re="trms">presentations of nonhuman ="nms">iranians in ="trms">writing ="trms">technological ="trms">ecologies (which are inevitably products of new ="trms">social movements, new research ="trms">agendas, new publics of ="trms">interest, and new contests for ="trms">historical meaning)

with ="nms">ajayeb this became immediately my concern='lgc'>: ='strcls'>*infrastructures of ="trms">historical re="trms">presentation='strcls'>*

="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................

="large lg4" stl="font-size:111%"> (what are the) stickiness of ="nms">ajayeb's being (='qstn'>?) or, in which ="trms">affective economy they are ‘passed around’='qstn'>? ='lgc'>[="trms">social goods, accumulating ="trms">affects, contagious مسرى='qstn'>? it tends to pick up whatever comes near, or gives us a certain kind of angle on what comes near='strcls'>*='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•="trms">wonder
="lsts lst1">•cause ='lgc'>==> ='qstn'>?
="lsts lst1">•
='lgc'>}='lgc'>--> ="trms">social bond is always rather sensational='strcls'>*

(="ppl">Ahmed sug="trms">gests) thinking through ="trms">affect as “sticky”='lgc'>: ="trms">affect is what sticks, or what sustains or preserves the connection between ideas, values, and objects
='lgc'>{ ="trms">affects as contagious ='lgc'>=/= (inside/outside) “outside in” model of emotions (for axample, when we say='lgc'>: atmosphere “getting into the individual”)='lgc'>-->='lgc'>[part of the intellectual ="trms">history of (crowd) psychology and the ="trms">sociology of emotions='lgc'>] ='lgc'>}='lgc'>--> ="trms">affect becomes an object only given the ="trms">contingency of how we are ="trms">affected
“what we will receive as an impression will depend on our ="trms">affective ="trms">situation” ='lgc'>--> Julia's post-="ppl">Lacanian feedback='lgc'>: bodies never arrive neutral
='strcls'>*everything depends on the angle of our arrival='strcls'>* (='lgc'><-- my point in ="trms">lecture-performances) ='lgc'>~-> ='strcls'>**pedagogic encounter is full of angles='strcls'>** (='lgc'>--> is that why i am becoming increasingly pedagogic='qstn'>?)
(by distinguishing between “did/how it work for you” and “did/how it work for the artist” ='lgc'>-->) ='strcls'>*="trms">internal ="trms">communication ='lgc'>=/= external ="trms">communication='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[what goes on inside the text on the level of ="trms">fictional mediation is not to be confused with the non-="trms">fictional realm inhabited by the ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reader nor by the ="trms">author='lgc'>]

(we are facing the ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">right way ='lgc'>-->) ='strcls'>*aligned ='lgc'>=/= alienated='strcls'>* (='lgc'><-- we are out of line with an ="trms">affective economy)
='strcls'>***(then how to) share an orientation ='lgc'>[, also refuse to share an orientation toward certain things='lgc'>]
='lgc'>[an ="trms">aesthetic ="trms">question which is moral. how two of my teachers, Julia and Phil, did this='qstn'>?='lgc'>]

to get along ='lgc'>=='qstn'>? to share direction


="large lg5" stl="font-size:136%"> politics of good feelings

(slide between) ="trms">affective and moral economies

='strcls'>*how feelings participate in making things (good) ='lgc'><--='not'>✕='lgc'>--> germanicity
how bodies turn toward things

='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]="trms">affect='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{
="lsts lst1">•messiness of the experiential
="lsts lst1">•un="trms">folding of bodies into the ="trms">worlds
="lsts lst1">•drama of ="trms">contingency

“hap” ='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{
="lsts lst1">•happening ='lgc'>--> chance
="lsts lst1">•happiness ='lgc'>--> stickiness
='lgc'>}='lgc'>--> ="trms">contingency o[...]