A Diffractive Song

Social Justice
from a
Feminist Quantum Physics

A Revolution in Science:
we co-create the Universe

Constant motion, even when resting,
makes the real again
&
real every time
we perform acts of co-creation
with eachother
• • • •
eachother as people,
eachother as living beings,
eachother as residents of Earth,
eachother as atoms in the infinite Universe.

Mx. Karen Barad confronts
an obsession of Classical Physics

[ we must we must ]
find accurate representations
&
gaze from afar

 
Antithesis:
Quantum Physics notice
2
drops of water
splash splash
into a different Universe
make
separate
waves waves combine diffract
…

More from Mx. Barad:
[ Classical be gone ]

1
We mark differences from within and as part of an entangled state
 
2
Our practices matter; the world is materialized differently through different practice
 
3
Objectivity is about taking account of the differences that matter

In the work of some
toward Social Justice,
the certain philosophy of Classical Physics becomes an accidental doctrine

it weaves through many branches of Science
and into our Governance
and into our Strategy

becoming

a way of
looking at reality
while refusing co-creation
&
perceiving our world through a pre-determined set
of Universal Truths

Contending that the role of study is to reveal
but not create.

In Social Justice
the certain philosophy instructs an advocate
to watch, observe, then produce representations

graphs represent value,
scores represent knowledge,
stories represent experiences,
numbers represent lives

These representations
we now send
through court as litigation
or
present to government in support of a bill
or
discuss in the study group
[ etc. etc. ]

and interface
from a distance
• • •
so far away [ that ] we don't see of feel the flesh and blood of the injustice we're addressing.
Instead, we see various forms of representation about flesh and blood.

When are we ever
part of our World?

tangled up?
affected?
infected?

To draw from another thinker,
Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore:

"I realized that a good deal of the practice of reading that I brought to my work, my work as a scholar, my work as an activist, my work as a reader, was kind of extractivist in its character. I was reading things in order to pull something out that I could then use… that I could then hold up, like, I pulled this chunk of copper ore from the ground, see it? I pulled this other thing from the ground, see it? This extraction then left me with something I could show people, 'See, I have this copper ore, see, I have this sentence from Karl Marx,' or sentence from Claudia Jones, or even an entire paragraph from C. L. R. James that I could recite. And people would just look and say, 'Wow, that's really nice copper ore.'"

÷ excerpt from "Let This Radicalize You," edited by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba ÷

Social Justice practiced with Quantum knowledge
attends to more than glistening ore:
the way we choose to mine,
learn,
advocate
all matters.

People can say they like the ore
yes, but
there's more at play

Mining for copper doesn't just produce ore
It reshapes the ground
and tires the hands
It carves out a pool where rainfall will gather
where
before
the water slid, tumbled down.

So,
Let us strive for more than a world of representations
 
Let us learn to take responsibility for what is made
by how we do our work

Doing it a certain way • creates a certain matter • doing it another way • creates another matter

In my experiences with Professor Barad's diffractive methodology, I've waltzed through thought with fresh ease and flow

We respond to our senses
mine, yours
&
notice the differences

We share and document expressively
and at the end of diffractive performance we witness what occurred
then wonder…

?

We mark differences from within and as part of an entangled state
 
We materialize differently through different practice
 
We practice objectivity by taking account of the differences that matter

END NOTE

÷Appreciation to Ebenezer for his counsel, editorial insight, and dedication to seeing this piece through to completion.
÷Appreciation to The Revolution School for engaging me in Karen Barad's thoughts and writing, and for the tanker crew who I've worked with to explore diffractive methodologies.
÷Appreciation to Nkem Ndefo, Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining), and Karen Barad for their contributions to the May 2023 Thinky Feely Tank that provided foundational insight for the rev school and this piece.

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In the months ahead I intend to build on the emerging foundation A Diffractive Song creates
&
shape the nebulous expression of these ideas into examples that are more concrete.

Q

Check back.  Scroll here again.
the other-quantum,
a mysterium conjunction of bytes ’n bits,
resides at the home of
The Other OZ

Q

Through this vortex, we can open a dialictic & continue learning — together — as I apply feminist quantum physics to my experiences working toward Social Justice here in Northwest Arkansas and beyond.

Q

The better we seek to understand the Quantum, the more we begin to comprehend reality.  Or not.
However it spins, we are devoted to the dialectic.

Air Mail
via secure roundcube
»»» claire@theotheroz.net

We invite you to The Other OZ landing page on the World Wide Web.
Woven throughout & ending with The Hand Of Glory is the ever-changing draft of a Manifesto for Universal Justice
& also
text and graphics about Social Justice issues, activists, and coalitions.
As forever, we are a work in progress.  Here is the hyperlink:

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