Skin Deep? The Stuff of Adaptability and the Intermediaries of Science

Abstract

Rather than envisaging adaptation as a ‘palimpsestic thing’ following Hutcheon and O’Flynn, this article investigates the generative and regenerative operation of adaptability, determining the being and becoming of any natural, as well as cultural, production. By therefore considering adaptability as process and condition of all biological and intercultural renewal — importantly to include ‘big’ science and data — attention can turn in three interconnecting subsections to the ‘stuff’ of adaptability in its key dynamics: resilience, revitalization and recovery. By deliberately choosing natural science examples to illustrate each section, the article conducts a thought experiment in how Romance Studies research might fruitfully remind twenty-first-century sciences and information technologies of their intercultural roots, and that theirs are not superior, or distinctive, intellectual domains. The article then clarifies not only a co-equal place for Humanities’ insights, but also how these are already equipped to ascertain features of optimal adaptability for the greater potential enrichments of cultural and empirical research.