Research Collaboration Across Disciplines: A Discussion with Daniela Gandorfer, Initial Segment (Part 1)
The Logical Imagination Lab (LoPh) is an interdisciplinary research collective that has emerged with a mission to investigate and address complex injustices at the intersections of various systems. Founded by Princeton alumni and students, LoPh was established in response to growing injustices such as police violence, civil unrest, global warming, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
At its core, LoPh's purpose is to delve into the intricate web of entanglements—legal frameworks, political structures, economic dynamics, social relationships, material realities, and environmental contexts—that produce and perpetuate systemic injustices. By bringing together scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines, LoPh aims to foster innovative ways to analyze these interconnected problems, develop conceptual tools, and propose practical interventions that are sensitive to the complexity of real-world conditions.
LoPh's emphasis on both logical rigor and creative, imaginative approaches reflects an effort to push beyond traditional boundaries of research and scholarship, generating fresh perspectives and solutions that contribute to social justice, sustainability, and equitable policy-making. The collective's method, matterphorical case studies, aims to understand each injustice as unique and complexly entangled, rather than assuming a universal definition.
Two current investigations by LoPh include "Gas Exchanges and the Right to Breathe" and "Movement and Organ(ization): U.S. American Fascism and the Criminalization of Resistance." The former examines the historical, material, legal, socio-political, and scientific conditions that either make possible or prohibit the act of breathing, aiming to propose a legal draft for a right to breathe. The latter is a close examination of the legal and political instruments shaping and fostering fascist and white-supremacist structures, with a focus on legislation and the targeting of Black Lives Matter and anti-fascist activists.
LoPh's investigations build on feminist science studies, specifically the work of philosopher and quantum physicist Karen Barad and her "agential realism," which challenges the assumption of objectivity as something measurable from the outside. The name of the collective, logische phantasie, is inspired by a kind of journalistic praxis emphasizing material engagement, a concept practiced and coined by anti-fascist journalist Egon Erwin Kisch in the 1920s. It requires rigorous empirical research and an acknowledgement that sense-making is always also an ethical and political matter.
In summary, LoPh exists to deepen understanding and inspire action against intertwined injustices through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative, critical inquiry. The collective believes that injustices affect unequally but are nevertheless a collective problem and should be addressed collectively. LoPh is a comprehensive research agency that actively challenges injustices by means of specific investigations, with an ethical or political imperative linked to the matters and bodies on the ground. Objectivity, for LoPh, means being accountable for the marks on bodies and specific materializations in their differential mattering.
Part II of an interview with Daniela Gandorfer will discuss the relationship of LoPh to standard research practice in the academy, the meaning of interdisciplinarity, and more. LoPh's work is not limited to investigations and includes teaching and forthcoming publications on matterphorics and matterphorical case studies.
- In pursuit of fostering social justice, sustainability, and equitable policy-making, the Junior Paper drafted at LoPh might focus on the independent work of assessing and developing research skills to analyze and propose practical interventions for technology in education-and-self-development, considering its potential impact on lifestyle and inclusion.
- By cultivating an environment that values both logical rigor and creative, imaginative approaches, LoPh aspires to provide junior scholars with opportunities to engage in original research on intricate topics, such as the historical, material, legal, socio-political, and scientific conditions associated with the right to breathe, nurturing their ability to address complex injustices in innovative ways.
- Through interdisciplinary collaboration and critical inquiry, LoPh aims to develop conceptual tools, practical interventions, and matterphorical case studies that challenge traditional boundaries of research, incorporating technology while maintaining an ethical commitment to understanding and addressing injustices across various systems and societies.
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