Arboreal Dialogics and Environmental Activism: Multispecies Entanglements in Ben Okri’s Every Leaf a Hallelujah

With robots increasingly integrated into various areas of life, the question of relationships with them is gaining prominence. Are friendship and partnership with robots possible? While there is already extensive research on relationships with robots, this article critically examines whether the relationship with non-human entities is sufficiently explored on a deeper level, especially in terms of ethical concepts such as autonomy, agency, and responsibility. In robot ethics, ethical concepts and considerations often presuppose properties such as consciousness, sentience, and intelligence, which are exclusively aligned with humans. I will challenge the understanding of these properties by anchoring them in contexts, bodies, and actions. This approach allows to consider the specific ways of being of various human and non-human entities and to identify these properties in non-human entities as well. My “eco-relational” approach posits that it is crucial to consider the relationality with non-human entities such as animals and technology in central ethical concepts from the beginning. This approach reflects the “eco”, the entire house in which we live including animals and robots. To support this, I examine two dominant approaches in robot ethics within the contemporary Western tradition: the “properties approach” and modestly relational approaches. I will develop an eco-relational approach as an alternative. Employing a phenomenological method, I will demonstrate through various examples that our properties and actions are inherently connected with non-human entities. I will show that robots play a central role in our properties and actions, leading to concepts such as hybrid actions and non-human agency. It becomes clear that technology and our relationships with it disrupt traditional ethical concepts.

The academic concept of “animism” has a long and complicated history. Born from a colonial setting around 1900, it was used to identify premodern or “primitive” understandings of certain nonhuman entities or objects as being alive, ensouled, and agentic. Because of its European depiction as a “failed ontology,” and the heavy colonial baggage this depiction entails, the concept was criticized and went almost out of use in mainstream anthropology and the academic study of religion. Around the turn of the 21st century, however, a different interpretation of animism was (re)introduced, which focused on animism as a relational approach to the world rather than as ontological claims about nonhuman entities. Many scholars in the emerging field of “new animism” base their considerations on spiritual practices in Europe and North America that use the concept of animism in a positive way. This is true for many forms of paganism, nature-based spiritualities, and environmental activism. In a parallel, and in fact intertwined, movement, academic theories have been developed across disciplines and intellectual traditions that conceptualize relationality, nonhuman agency, and entanglements of life forms in a way that strives to overcome influential binaries such as subject–object, nature–culture, mind–matter, or human–nonhuman. These theories, in turn, materialize in literature and art, and they influence political and spiritual practice in many ways. In what can be called animism’s double-bind, new animism is a mode of critique of exactly those binary constructions that originate in European hegemonic thinking. While the idea of animism, due to its colonial legacy, should no longer be applied as a generic concept to a particular “type” of religion, its revival in Euro-American discourse at the turn of the 21st century can, ironically, be interpreted as a subversive attempt to decolonize the hegemonic tradition that constructed European (white, male) humans as detached from the rest of planetary life and as the pinnacle of evolution and creation.

This article discusses the difference between posthuman discourse and nonhuman discourse in the context of ecological religion. Unlike posthuman discourse, which has teleological elements, nonhuman discourse emphasizes that humans interact with nonhuman entities without seeking the transformation of humans into non-humans. The article proposes that it is important to understand the relationship between humans and nature as a nonhuman agency, rather than merely as nonhuman entities. This is aimed at reconstructing the ontological basis of ecological religious discourse to avoid being trapped in an anthropocentric paradigm. This research adopts the conceptual frameworks of Actor-Network Theory and the Politics of Things developed by Bruno Latour to view the relationship between humans and nature in a broader and non-teleological context. The analytical methods used in this research are philosophical approaches and literature review. Both approaches are used to find the philosophical foundation of ecological religious discourse and its correlation with the Non-human Turn. The research results show that at the epistemic level, human subjectivity is crucial in determining attitudes toward the conceived reality. However, at the ontological level, there is a space untouched by human thought and consciousness, implying a postponement/suspension of moral judgment that is not final. In particular, in moral consensus, the actors involved also include non-human entities. Consequently, the understanding of the ideal attitude toward nature should use a phenomenological approach that focuses on the consequences of the objectification of the subject toward the world beyond itself.

Biosecurity is a concept that has important economic, social, ecological and health-related dimensions. By biosecurity we mean protection of production, ecosystems, health and the social infrastructure from external threats caused by pests, pathogens and diseases of various forms and origins. The fact that more goods, transport platforms and people are moving around the globe at increasing speeds provides unforeseen possibilities for rapid spread of different types of organisms. This is exacerbated by changes in the production structures and climate. As a result, both the benefits and the risks of changes in the food system cross borders more often, leading to an increased demand for biosecurity policies. Economics can be related to biosecurity in at least three fundamental ways. First, many of the ultimate or proximate causes of bioinvasions create economic welfare. Second, bioinvasions result in various types of impacts, many of which are economic by nature – or at least may be measured in economic terms. Third, the negative impacts of invasions or their probability of occurrence can often be either avoided or reduced. These biosecurity policies themselves have economic implications, which often may be quite different from those caused by the biological hazard itself. A few reviews of separate components of economics of biosecurity exist, but there have been no attempts to review the big picture. Instead, the previous reviews have concentrated on different components of biosecurity such as invasive species or animal diseases. Our aim is to look at the issue in broad terms, draw some commonalities from the research conducted, and identify areas in which economic analyses have primarily been conducted and in which areas there remainswork to do. The review includes about 230 studies from all areas of biosecurity up to the year 2008. The review finds that study of economics of biosecurity is growing steadily, but is still relatively concentrated on narrow questions, few countries, few species/diseases and few journals.

Biosecurity is a concept that has important economic, social, ecological and health-related dimensions. By biosecurity we mean protection of production, ecosystems, health and the social infrastructure from external threats caused by pests, pathogens and diseases of various forms and origins. The fact that more goods, transport platforms and people are moving around the globe at increasing speeds provides unforeseen possibilities for rapid spread of different types of organisms. This is exacerbated by changes in the production structures and climate. As a result, both the benefits and the risks of changes in the food system cross borders more often, leading to an increased demand for biosecurity policies. Economics can be related to biosecurity in at least three fundamental ways. First, many of the ultimate or proximate causes of bioinvasions create economic welfare. Second, bioinvasions result in various types of impacts, many of which are economic by nature — or at least may be measured in economic terms. Third, the negative impacts of invasions or their probability of occurrence can often be either avoided or reduced. These biosecurity policies themselves have economic implications, which often may be quite different from those caused by the biological hazard itself. A few reviews of separate components of economics of biosecurity exist, but there have been no attempts to review the big picture. Instead, the previous reviews have concentrated on different components of biosecurity such as invasive species or animal diseases. Our aim is to look at the issue in broad terms, draw some commonalities from the research conducted, and identify areas in which economic analyses have primarily been conducted and in which areas there remains work to do. The review includes about 230 studies from all areas of biosecurity up to the year 2008. The review finds that study of economics of biosecurity is growing steadily, but is still relatively concentrated on narrow questions, few countries, few species/diseases and few journals.

This study explores the linguistic strategies in Ben Okri’s “The Famished Road” to construct ecological interdependencies and agency in the novel. Employing systemic functional linguistics and ecolinguistic analysis, the study examines how Okri’s linguistic strategies elevate the agency of non-human elements, representing them as vibrant and willful participants within their ecosystem. The purpose of this analysis is to understand how language in “The Famished Road” conveys agency and a symbiotic relationship between humans and non-human elements, thereby addressing broader ecological and environmental concerns. Employing an ecolinguistic analysis, the research examines linguistic portrayals that challenge anthropocentric views and emphasize respect for nature. Results show that the novel frames nature and non-human entities as vibrant, active participants, influencing ecological consciousness and fostering ethical considerations towards the environment. This study concludes that Ben Okri’s ‘The Famished Road’, through its unique linguistic strategies, reflects and advocates for a symbiotic relationship between all life forms, highlighting the potential of literary works to contribute to environmental advocacy and consciousness. This analysis adds depth to our understanding of language’s role in ecological literature and encourages further exploration into how textual practices can influence ecological and ethical perceptions.

This article examines the role played by a nonhuman entity, the Atlantic Ocean, in institutional work. It uses the results of an in-depth case study concerning the local economy of a surfing-focused seaside town in the south-west of France, where relations with the ocean have been modified by institutional work facilitated by extreme coastal erosion during winter storms in 2013-2014. This work, performed by the actors of the local economy – which include the ocean – aims to change the institutions of surfing, and local planning in a coastal town, by acting to influence the relation between this local economy and the ocean. The study involves a qualitative analysis of 32 interviews with stakeholders in the local surfing industry to identify the role played by a nonhuman entity in deliberate action to influence institutions. Mobilization of the theoretical framework of the anthropologist Philippe Descola concerning the types of relations between humans and nonhumans leads to 1) the suggestion that the nonhuman agency of natural elements should be included in consideration of institutional work, and 2) a reconsideration of the relational influence of the material dimension in organization and management theory.

Based on the “vegetal turn” in film studies and posthuman philosophy, the article explores how experimental cinema can be a cultural mediator of vegetal forms of life. Posthumanist philosophy draws inspiration from cinema’s portrayal of both imaginary and real non-human entities as subjects and cohabitants on Earth. As subjects, these non-human entities are challenging generally accepted ideas about the principles of cognition, as well as our understanding of the causes and consequences of problems such as climate warming, Holocene extinction, and depletion of natural resources. The experimental film reveals connections between human and non-human agents through its unique film language and cinema ontology. The study examines how the film Enys Men (2022), directed by M. Jenkin, employs critical anthropomorphism to depict closely intertwined symbiotic relationships between all human and non-human agents, where memory as an embodied property connects various types of experience. In the film, access to awareness of the boundaries of life and death is challenged by non-human subjects such as lichens and Earth.

ABSTRACTThe main aim of this article is to explore the intersections of ecological theology, philosophy, and literary narratives in the context of environmental ethics. By examining the interplay of theological doctrines, philosophical frameworks, and the imaginative scope of literary storytelling, this article investigates the shared agency between humans and the natural world in addressing ecological crises. In doing so, this article emphasizes the interdependence of spiritual, ethical, and narrative structures, where the environment is not merely a passive backdrop for human‐centered moral inquiries. On the contrary, it is presented as an active participant, a dynamic matrix that informs and transforms ethical thought and practice. At the same time, this article argues that integrating theology, philosophy, and literary narratives disrupts the anthropocentric assumption that human agency alone dictates ethical and ecological frameworks, instead advocating for a relational model where human and nonhuman entities co‐shape environmental stewardship.

In recent years there have been calls for scholars working within sport and physical culture to recognise the (increasing) confluence of nature and culture. Situated within an emerging body of new materialist research, such accounts have shown how various activities are polluted by, fused to, and assembled with non-human entities. However, more work is needed on the political possibilities afforded by non-human agency, and by extension, the implications that such flat ontological arrangements might raise for the management and governance of physical culture. Building on research conducted with mountain bike trail builders, this article seeks to explore what it means to know, to be, and to govern a human subject in the Anthropocene. Specifically, I draw on James Ash’s (2019) post-phenomenological theory of space and David Chandler’s (2018) notion of onto-political hacking to show how the playful, contingent, and transformative practices of the mountain bike assemblage confront the linear and calculated governance of the English countryside. In doing so, mountain bike trails are positioned as objects of hope that allow for a collective re-imagining of political democracy in a more-than-human landscape.

This article aims to disturb the received wisdom ‘tidy house, tidy mind’ by tracing its emergence and consolidation: from psychoanalysis to clinical psychology through to philosophy and reality television. The contention here is that the commanding presence of the mirror as a clinical apparatus serves to eclipse a full consideration of the hoarding situation as one involving not only mental health professionals and clients, that is, ‘hoarders’, but also the materials of the heap – as the ‘hoard’ is read straightforwardly as a reflection of the hoarder’s mind. It is argued, further, that the conspicuous neglect of things, that is, material objects, in the modelling of the hoarding ‘problem’ – the aetiology of Hoarding Disorder is cast in entirely human terms – serves to frame ‘hoarders’ as individually culpable. By extending the forensic logic of both clinical and popular psychology, it is argued that such framing amounts to securing forced confessions, where hoarders are left to bear total responsibility for a situation, which is, ultimately, a question of distributed agency between human and non-human entities.

Jane Bennett, Professor of Political Theory at the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, published her awaited book Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things in 2010. Her distinctive notion of ‘vibrant matter’ invokes a new and different political imaginary outside the Hegelian and psychoanalytic framework of the subject and object/other relation. Bennett demonstrates that both human and nonhuman entities (including inorganic matter) are composed of ‘vibrant matter’. In Bennett’s view, matter that we consider ‘dead’ such as fossils and stones is not actually dead but very much alive and is constituted by a lively and energetic play of forces. Following a long tradition of thinkers who have sought to decentre ‘the human’ (e.g. Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault), Bennett’s emphasis on non-human matter challenges the ontological privileging of ‘the human’. However, her notion of ‘distributive agency’ creatively affirms the necessity of human embodiment, understood as one site of agency within and across a multiplicity of other material bodies and formations.

Owain Jones and Paul Cloke, Oxford and New York: Berg, 2002, xii + 252 pages (paper).Reviewer: Wayne Fife Memorial University of NewfoundlandI originally encountered this as part of a reading group at Memorial University. I took extensive notes on it before we met and what follows is to be taken as my own opinion, but that opinion has inevitably been influenced by the lively discussion that this work engendered among our group. Reaction to the ranged from not liking it very much at all to deciding that it usefully considered a number of issues related to human and non-human agency, questions about re-conceptualizing and why human beings have such an attachment to place. One thing that we discovered in our discussion was that the differences in our perceptions of the were partially related to why each of us was reading it. Those who read it more as just another book and compared it to other theoretical works concerning poststructuralism, network theory, and/or political ecology tended to be least satisfied with it; while those who read it as a work that pertained more directly to research problems that they were currently engaging with tended to feel that they gained far more from it. As I am currently involved in research associated with national parks and other issues relating to nature tourism, I was the member of the group who most found Tree Cultures to be useful, as it helped me think through a number of important issues related to political ecology in general and national parks in particular (although national parks are not part of the book's overt agenda). I would, therefore, recommend this primarily to researchers struggling first hand with issues involving relationships between and the non-human world, especially those that revolve around organic entities such as trees or other non-conscious beings.Tree Cultures can be divided into two main parts. Part 1 is entitled Placing in Cultural Theory and Part 2 Trees in their Place. In the second part, four case studies from England (involving an orchard, a cemetery, a heritage trail, and a town square) are used to illustrate how some of the concepts discussed in Part 1 can be put into practice in actual research situations.So many concepts are discussed in Part 1 that only a few of them can be considered here. Primarily, the authors are interested in the issue of non-human agency and whether other organic and non-organic entities can be considered to have agency in the world. Their clear answer to this question is yes. Nature 'pushes back' and injects its own materiality and dynamism into what [David] Harvey terms 'socio-ecological processes' (p. 30). In explaining why and how they have arrived at this answer, Jones and Cloke are careful to steer away from anthropomorphic romanticism or suggestions that trees, or other similar elements of nature, are just like humans in their agency. Instead they make the case that the key feature of intentionality in human agency needs to be replaced with the notion of purposefulness in the case of non-human agency. Purposefulness in relation to trees, for example, has to do with fulfillment of their embodied tendencies to grow in certain ways and to reproduce (p. 7). As an illustration of this principle, in a case study chapter on Arnos Vale Cemetery (a Victorian cemetery in Bristol), they show that a variety of tree species that were originally planted as an adjunct to the human enjoyment of the cemetery (which was used extensively for walking) became wild over time and self-seeded new trees to such an extent that by the contemporary period thousands of gravesites had been destroyed or altered by trees and the overall character of the cemetery irrevocably changed. This leads the authors to state: The agency of trees in Arnos Vale has clearly been an active co-constituent in the changing nature and contested cultures of the place (p. 152).One of the points Jones and Cloke make is that such non-human entities as trees have been largely overlooked when we consider agency because of the limited notions we normally apply to both scale and time when considering the effects of agents. …

In this article, we draw on the narrative of a woman who has recovered from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to explore the process of recovering from a debilitating illness. Inspired by Julia Kristeva’s notion of the body as a complex biocultural fact and by Karen Barad’s posthuman theory (also termed agential realism), we adopt an intra-active approach to the woman’s recovery process, revealing the role played by human as well as nonhuman entities. In so doing, we move beyond “dualistic,” often polarized debates in the medical literature (and mainstream media) regarding the causes of CFS: debates in which “biological/physiological” factors tend to be set against “mental/cognitive/psychological” ones. We argue for a medical perspective in which the intra-action of human and nonhuman agents is recognized as contributing to an individual’s recovery process.

This paper discusses multispecies anthropology, which refers to an approach involving various forms of life, recognizing that humans are not the only significant subjects in ecosystems. It is an anthropological approach that expands the focus of study to include the relationships between humans and other species, including animals, plants, microorganisms, and non-human entities. The paper explores the relationship between humans and Sumatran tigers at the Kinantan Wildlife and Cultural Park in Bukittinggi.The Sumatran tiger is critically endangered due to habitat loss, ecosystem degradation, and most importantly, the high-intensity human-tiger conflict. This has created conditions where tigers are relocated to enclosures or zoos. Tigers in zoos are often explored for economic or research purposes, creating a new agency for tigers as both "objects and subjects" in the narrative of conservation. Additionally, it creates a complex and mutually influencing relationship between humans and tigers.To preserve the Sumatran tiger as a "wild" species in zoos, certain practices resembling domestication have been implemented by keepers, leading to new ways of interacting with and perceiving this species. Using a qualitative descriptive method and a performative approach through the animal focal sampling method to observe the daily behavior of Sumatran tigers, this study illustrates how different "tigers" are "created" through interaction practices and how a performance of wildlife coexists with domestication practices within the tiger enclosure.The paper examines specific breeding practices and how feeding, breeding, and captivity entangle human and animal lives.The researcher has also explored various ways of care enacted by keepers, ranging from close, embodied interactions. By focusing on the interrelated practices within the zoo, the paper aims to use empirical descriptions to argue about the relationships within the processes of becoming and the formation of a world—a world that is not static but made through the practices of both human and non-human agents.