In this paper, we trace the emergence of what we term the digital plant humanities—abbreviated as DPH throughout—as an evolution of burgeoning botanical interest among environmental and digital humanists. We argue that DPH coalesces the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the three research areas of plant humanities, environmental humanities, and digital humanities. After conceptualising DPH, we analyse three projects representative of the emergent field—the Native American Ethnobotany Database; Herbaria 3.0; and Microcosms: A Homage to Sacred Plants of America—while referring to a broader range of formative projects including the Plant Humanities Lab.

Social Dissonance is then, both a form of practice, an effect of that practice- the furthering of the already present socially dissonant effect/affect-, and a specific score, proposing possible kinds of action to an audience to bring about the consciousness of their own unfreedom- or, more radically, the consciousness of their unconsciousness. But this program has two insufficiencies: 1. The circuit through which the risen consciousness of an unfree state may translate into forms of action is not provided. 2. Even if one has successfully elicited the experience of unfreedom, the transmission of that feeling of unfreedom within a localized social milieu- typically enclosed within an art gallery, a concert hall, or a punk venue- to the consciousness of the unfreedom of the social world at large is, in the least, problematic. The first insufficiency relates to the problem of the theoretical conditions of practice, or what kinds of influence can a theoretically gained description have upon practice - a very classical problem. The second insufficiency is more specific to Mattin and one would say amounts to the influence one practice may have upon other practices. But this last formulation is a superficial one, being maybe more fruitfully described as the problem of the traction one form of action may have upon the practical conditions of conceptual representation- once we understand the dialectics between action and conception that seems to be implicit in Mattin’s account, and much of the present text will be dealing with exactly that.

Mattin’s durational concert Social Dissonance and concept of social dissonance offer compelling devices to understand a central tension within institutions of higher education in settler colonial contexts. As faculty and students increasingly enact and experience forms of decolonial pedagogy in their classrooms, the settler colonial origins and structures of the university remain unchallenged. In the specific case of the ‘Land-Grant’ university system, created through the federal 1862 Morrill Act, the findings of a 2020 ‘Land-Grab Universities’ report describes the extent of their founding on the forced expropriation of Indigenous land and life. This article mixes the settler author’s repeated experiences of Social Dissonance at documenta 14, in both Athens, Greece, and its traditional home of Kassel, Germany, and how its institutional and pedagogical contexts translate to a sequence of teaching experiments in his classrooms at a ‘Land-Grab’ university. These experiences and experiments are framed by two failures, both institutional and individual, that offer the author a concrete insight into the concept of social dissonance to understand how different levels of alienation operate through colonial intrusion into educational contexts by an exclusionary settler worldview. At the same time, the author attempts to harness this settler colonial noise-as-device by attuning to echoes of Social Dissonance in the vital work of living, Indigenous artists, and their alternative pedagogical initiatives.

This paper delves into the intricate relation between the terms social dissonance, necropolitics, and Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone. By attempting an interdisciplinary analysis and by bringing together elements of contemporary art, political theory, and classical literature, I will explore the complex dynamics between social dissonance, necropolitics, and the quest for human dignity. While examining Antigone’s defiance in the face of oppressive power, we are reminded of the enduring importance of dissent and the indomitable spirit of individuals striving for justice and autonomy in the face of oppressive systems. Drawing parallels between the socio-political context in which Sophocles wrote Antigone and contemporary manifestations of necropolitics, this paper illuminates the enduring relevance of the play. Moreover, it emphasizes the contemporary significance of social dissonance, as proposed by Mattin (2022), in understanding power struggles and forms of resistance. The collision of these concepts and ideas occurs in their shared focus on power dynamics and the resistance against oppressive systems: they explore the ways in which power operates, so as to control and manipulate individuals and communities, creating conditions of discord and subjugation. They emphasize the potential for resistance, challenging dominant narratives and asserting the agency and dignity of marginalized voices. When examining the intersection of necropolitics and social dissonance, one can analyse how the exercise of necropolitical power leads to social dissonance by silencing dissent, suppressing alternative narratives, and perpetuating oppressive structures. The clash between the dominant necropolitical regime and the underlying social dissonance exposes the tension and contradictions within society, laying the foundation for resistance movements and the pursuit of justice and autonomy.