Knowing Animals: Multispecies Ethnography and the Scope of Anthropology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hartigan
Keyword(s):  
Multispecies Ethnography

scholarly journals Counterfactuality as a Polyphonic Assemblage. Entangled Human and Nonhuman Stories of Early Modern Sciences in Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-121
Author(s):  
Mateusz Chaberski
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Multispecies Ethnography ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Neal Stephenson ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ways Of Being ◽  
Point Of Departure

Summary In recent science-fiction literature, we can witness a proliferation of new counterfactual narratives which take the 17th century as their point of departure. Unlike steampunk narratives, however, their aim is not to criticise the socio-political effects caused by contemporary technological development. Such authors as Neal Stephenson or Ian Tregillis, among others, are interested in revisiting the model of development in Western societies, routing around the logic of progress. Moreover, they demonstrate that modernity is but an effect of manifold contingent and indeterminate encounters of humans and nonhumans and their distinct temporalities. Even the slightest modification of their ways of being could have changed Western societies and cultures. Thus, they necessitate a rather non-anthropocentric model of counterfactuality which is not tantamount to the traditional alternative histories which depart from official narratives of the past. By drawing on contemporary multispecies ethnography, I put forward a new understanding of counter-factuality which aims to reveal multiple entangled human and nonhuman stories already embedded in the seemingly unified history of the West. In this context, the concept of “polyphonic assemblage” (Lowenhaupt-Tsing) is employed to conceptualize the contingent and open-ended encounters of human and nonhuman historical actors which cut across different discourses and practices. I analyse Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle to show the entangled stories of humans and nonhumans in 17th century sciences, hardly present in traditional historiographies. In particular, Stephenson’s depiction of quicksilver and coffeehouse as nonhuman historical actors is scrutinized to show their vital role in the production of knowledge at the dawn of modernity.

scholarly journals How to Become a Mushroom: A New Nature Ethnography of Fungi in Aotearoa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alice Nicholls
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Nature Writing ◽  
The West ◽  
Multispecies Ethnography ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Native Forests ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
The Moment

<p>This thesis proposes that the moment of interaction between a person and a fungus is transformative of both subjects. Using new nature writing techniques in tandem with multispecies ethnography, this thesis seeks to present a rich, autoethnographic account of my encounters with fungi in the native forests of the West Coast of Aotearoa. Drawing on five days of ethnographic fieldwork spent at the Fungal Network of New Zealand (FUNNZ) annual Fungal Foray in the township of Moana, I explore the affective, emotional, sensory, intellectual, and corporeal experiences of interacting with fungi. Using new nature writing as an ethnographic medium, I suggest that narratives that pertain to the researcher’s experiences can render new understandings of nonhuman subjects. In doing so, I explore both the transformative potential of multispecies encounters for the researcher and the researched, and the literary potential of multispecies ethnography to illustrate the encounters themselves.</p>

Multisensory Anthropology

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Howes
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Not Given ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Multispecies Ethnography ◽  
Sensory Ethnography ◽  
Anthropological Theory ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Senses

The senses are made, not given. Multisensory anthropology focuses on the variable boundaries, differential elaboration, and many different ways of combining the senses across (and within) cultures. Its methodology is grounded in “participant sensation,” or sensing—and making sense—along with others, also known as sensory ethnography. This review article traces the sensualization of anthropological theory and practice since the early 1990s, showing how the concept of sensory mediation has steadily supplanted the prior concern with representation. It concludes with a discussion of how the senses are engaged in filmmaking, multispecies ethnography, and material culture studies as well as in achieving social justice.

scholarly journals Breaking Through Disciplinary Barriers: Human–Wildlife Interactions and Multispecies Ethnography

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 749-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah E. Parathian ◽  
Matthew R. McLennan ◽  
Catherine M. Hill ◽  
Amélia Frazão-Moreira ◽  
Kimberley J. Hockings
Keyword(s):  
Multispecies Ethnography
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