ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about flattening the hierarchy between humans and nonhuman actors and discusses the potential of that flattened hierarchy to negatively impact humans already marginalized by systems of oppression. Contexts, tools, and other nonhuman factors are central to the practice and scholarship of technical communication, human-computer interaction and user experience. The chapter demonstrates how posthumanism can contribute to social justice research in technical communication when approached with a critical stance. It considers a critical approach to posthumanism in social justice work by presenting two pairs of related strengths and concerns. Social justice seeks to eliminate structural inequalities that lead to unjust power imbalances, usually among people—that is, human actors. The chapter presents data from a study of transit-dependent bus riders' experiences, demonstrating how posthumanism expands considerations for design. Posthumanism views agency "not as a unique human quality or force, which acts upon the world, but as an action is shared with the world".
