Constituting Phenomena Through Intra-Action and Intentionality: Is a Posthumanist Phenomenology Possible?

This article examines the conceptual intersections and distinctions between phenomenology—a philosophical tradition focused on human experience and intentionality—and Karen Barad’s agential realism, a posthumanist theory emphasizing phenomena as iterative material-discursive intra-actions that do not depend solely on human experience. It explores how Barad’s rejection of phenomenology relates primarily to Kantian notions rather than Husserlian or post-Husserlian phenomenology, highlighting potential complementarities through concepts like intra-action and intentionality. The authors propose a posthumanist phenomenology that situates the researcher within phenomena, recognizes agency as distributed and dynamic across human and nonhuman elements, embraces multiplicity in methods and manifestations, and focuses on the performative process of becoming to generate new potentials. This synthesis aims to enrich qualitative research by integrating human experience as one component among many in the ongoing materialization of phenomena.