Nonhuman Turn Research Articles

A Study of Thing-Narrative in The Masque of the Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death is one of Edgar Allan Poe‘s most important works, which has been studied by numerous scholars from the perspectives of style, narrative aesthetics, and semiotics. However, the relevant interpretation to date has almost completely ignored the description of things in the novel. At present, there is an obvious “material turn” or “non-human turn” in the field of humanities research, that is, the research perspective turns to the “object” components that have been largely ignored in the past, including animals, plants, minerals, ecosystems, landscapes, places, etc. Therefore, from the perspective of the thing-narrative, combined with the social and historical background of the works, this paper analyzes Poe‘s use of thing-narrative techniques through close reading of the text. Through the in-depth analysis of the interaction between things and characters in the story, the author explains how castles, rooms, and ebony clocks, as cultural symbols, agents with subjectivity, exist as noumenon, influence or predict the fate of characters, and promote the development of the plot. And to further clarify Poe‘s theme in this novel - the inevitability of death.

A Study of Thing-Narrative in The Masque of the Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death is one of Edgar Allan Poe‘s most important works, which has been studied by numerous scholars from the perspectives of style, narrative aesthetics, and semiotics. However, the relevant interpretation to date has almost completely ignored the description of things in the novel. At present, there is an obvious “material turn” or “non-human turn” in the field of humanities research, that is, the research perspective turns to the “object” components that have been largely ignored in the past, including animals, plants, minerals, ecosystems, landscapes, places, etc. Therefore, from the perspective of the thing-narrative, combined with the social and historical background of the works, this paper analyzes Poe‘s use of thing-narrative techniques through close reading of the text. Through the in-depth analysis of the interaction between things and characters in the story, the author explains how castles, rooms, and ebony clocks, as cultural symbols, agents with subjectivity, exist as noumenon, influence or predict the fate of characters, and promote the development of the plot. And to further clarify Poe‘s theme in this novel - the inevitability of death.

Ecogothic Interpretations of the Anthropocene

The so-called nonhuman turn has a great role to play in theoretical elaborations of the Anthropocene. This broad tendency of thought incorporates contemporary non-anthropocentric schools of thought such as Actor-Network-Theory (ANT), Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and posthumanism. These various sociological and philosophical directions have one thing in common: the rejection and transcendence of anthropocentrism, as well as a new sensitivity to the heterogeneous, irreducible and multiple nature of reality. Openness to post-anthropocentrism is a general characteristic of authors who work in Anthropocene theory today. However, posthumanist philosophy, while it decenters and deconstructs the human, is also committed to an aesthetic of uncertainty, fear, and even horror. Simon C. Estok, in his highly important article “Theorising the EcoGothic,” shows that during the ecological crisis philosophical thought must traverse unknown terrain, while also emphasizing the darker aspects of sociocultural constructs. Posthumanism must, by its very nature, prepare for the unthinkable in a quite literal sense according to Stefan Herbrechter. The Anthropocene constitutes an opening to what Nick Land calls “Outsideness”. A future condition “after” the human can be understood as a condition that opens onto a dark, monstrous, threatening or, in a word, hybrid future beyond any anthropic measure.

Anima(l) Moralia, or Righteous Anger: Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor

Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor ( Pokot, 2017), an adaptation of Olga Tokarczuk’s novel Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead (2009), tells the story of an old woman, Janina Duszejko (Agnieszka Mandat), who advocates for animal rights and uses every measure to fight the local hunting culture. Due to the centrality of the relationship between human beings and the world of nature, Holland’s film refers to the recent debates aimed at de-centralizing the human subject. This article will argue, however, that despite its attempt to alter the human–animal relationship, Spoor conveys anthropocentric perspectives and as such it does not participate in the “non-human turn.” Instead, the film can be linked to the “emotional turn” taking precedence in the humanities during the last two decades, in that it expresses the director’s affective response to the political realities of contemporary Poland, especially its unshaken patriarchal power, which subordinates the social margins.

”Min tröst var att författa en egen artikel om svamparna”

“My Consolation was to Write my Own Article on Fungi”: Fictional Representations of the Relationship Between Fungi and Humans This article explores fictional representations of fungi, understanding them as a materialization of theoretical ideas about the entangled relationships between humans and the more-than-human, central to humanistic and philosophical thinkers within the nonhuman turn. The point of departure is the growing interest in fungi over the last decades, scientifically and, more recently, also in arts and culture. To frame the discussion historically, concepts from ethnomycology is used as a background, describing cultural tendencies and attitudes towards fungi in terms of mycophobia and mycophilia. The American HBO-series The Last of Us (2023) is discussed as an example of the contemporary boom, using Anna Tsing’s ideas on fungi as a representation of multi-species collaboration in the era of capitalist destruction. The story raises questions about individuality, represented by the human, as opposed to the collective fungus. The main focus of the article is, however, a Swedish context and two prose narratives in which fungi play a significant role, Agneta Pleijel’s historical novel Fungi. En roman om kärleken (Fungi. A Novel on Love, 1993) and Lars Jakobson’s fantastic story “Nians nät över trapetsen” (“The Nine Net over the Trapezius”, 2004). In the postapocalyptic world of The Last of Us, the fungus is a dangerous parasite portrayed with horror and ambivalence. In Pleijel’s and Jakobsons’s stories the lives of fungi are associated with harmony, even joy. In different ways, their human characters relate to fungi with love and reverence, and strive to fully understand their nature. Nevertheless, all three stories raise questions about interspecies entanglements. The wonders and horrors of symbiosis that they portray point towards the complex condition of the anthropocene and the limits of a mechanistic worldview.

The matter with subjects of justice

ABSTRACT Although the non-human turn in justice theory remains in its infancy, several projects have emerged, including Earth system justice, multispecies justice, and planetary justice. Crucially, candidate theories must provide convincing responses to the who, what, and how of justice. The question of who can prove particularly challenging, as philosophers continue to debate the moral relevance of properties of entities or the relations between them. Scholars of environmental politics seeking to develop more-than-human justice theories must carefully attend to issues inherent in this debate, including conceptual inconsistencies. Recent work by Winter and Schlosberg advancing a materialist perspective on multispecies and planetary justice demonstrates the difficult task of participating in this conversation, as evidenced by their application of the term ‘subjects of justice.’ In this brief essay, I identify three flaws in their use of this phrase and explain why the treatment of subjects matters to justice theory in the Anthropocene.

The Nonhuman Turn in Gravity’s Rainbow

The Nonhuman Turn in Gravity’s Rainbow

AGAMA EKLOGIS DAN WACANA NON-HUMAN TURN

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.

‘Dresse-toi!’ Perspectives on the (Re)Valorisation of Nonhuman Animal Performers in Contemporary Circus

It is the aim of this article to critically assess the (re)valorisation of nonhuman animals in contemporary circus. Though contemporary circus has declared itself to be an ‘animal-free’ artform, animals have been increasingly reappearing in contemporary circus performances over the past few years. In opposition to traditional circus, neither the presentation of the talents of nonhuman animals nor the demonstration of human power and dominance are the objective, rather, contemporary circus attempts to create critical and experimental artworks that function as social commentaries on the relation between humans and nonhuman animals. This article is divided into three parts. The first provides an overview of the staging strategies of nonhuman animals in traditional circus, as well as a contextual map of the renewed interest in animal performances in contemporary circus. The second is an analysis of the contemporary circus performance Dresse-toi (2018) by Cie Equinoctis, which sets out to counter the human dominance of animals in performance through the lens of the nonhuman turn. The third part reflects on further ways to decentre the human being and the anthropocentric telos in circus.

Undercurrents of the River Duddon: Human Consciousness versus Nature

This essay examines the relationship between human consciousness and nature in William Wordsworth's "The River Duddon" sonnets. By adapting the method of literary analysis, Wordsworth’s portrayal of the River Duddon serves as a lens through which the boundaries of human understanding are examined, illustrating an unbridgeable gap between human consciousness and nature. After a brief introduction of research background, this essay elaborates on the River Duddon's unattainable origin as cloud’s child in deferral to both antiquity and industry, eco-Gothic wilderness in departure and return pattern, and nonperishable eternity compared with the transience of human. By deconstructing anthropocentric views prevalent in Romantic literature, the research emphasizes the urgent necessity of acknowledging nature's subjectivity and its independent existence beyond human perception. This essay not only revitalizes the poetic landscape of Wordsworth but also advocates for a non-human turn in literary criticism, promoting ecological awareness and respect for nature.

Literary and critical encounters with the Anthropocene: An interview with Seán Hand

Abstract Seán Hand is Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Europe) of the University of Warwick. His research mainly focuses on literature, ideas and related developments in France and other Western countries from the early twentieth century to the present day. In this wide-ranging interview, Hand points out that there is a competition of intellectual versions of the Anthropocene, such as Capitalocene, Plantationocene and Chthulucene. With regards to the situation of the Anthropocene, he argues that literary and critical studies should move beyond masterful exposition of a work and take up the task of calling attention to our actions, renewing our connection and commitment to the life-web we inhabit, and engaging critically with technologization discussions. Hand also discusses the relationships between the “post-human turn” and the “non-human turn” and suggests that while post-human is connected with a teleological notion of development into a “beyond”, non-human is more grounded in today’s, and yesterday’s, reality. As an analyst of Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy, he here maintains that while Levinas’s insights on alterity could not be unproblematically applied in dealing with the “Anthropocene”, Levinasian ethics and Anthropocene concerns could produce transformative insights and effects. Lastly, Hand gives inspiring suggestions on the career development of young scholars and emphasizes the importance of doing multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and international studies.

Doing a Psychoanalysis of Nature: Freud and Merleau-Ponty after the Nonhuman Turn

Sigmund Freud’s biologism has historically come with a negative valence, seeming to consign us to passive determination by irrational drives. While the nonhuman turn has recently highlighted the underacknowledged creativity of animal life, this re-evaluation of biology has hardly implicated Freud. I contend that Maurice Merleau-Ponty reveals a nascent ‘other Freud’ able to inform the nonhuman turn, one that sees the human animal as the basis of the free and relational psychoanalytic subject. I follow Merleau-Ponty in reading Freud as engaged with the question of how a shared, intersubjective world is possible. Both thinkers realized that it is in the domain of life, not cognition, that we verify this seemingly human relational potential. Elaborating the Merleau-Pontian Freud, I argue for a psychoanalytic subject that necessitates nonhuman life as its ecstatic unmooring towards the Other and reality. Ecological thinking is not an obstacle to the relationality prized by psychoanalysis, but a necessity.

The Invisible World of Images. From “Nonhuman” to “Undigital” Photography in Joanna Zylinska’s Reflections


 
 
 The article presents the theoretical views and, to a lesser extent, artistic practices of Joanna Zylinska, who in her artistic activity combines epistemological strategies of a researcher and theorist with her activities in the field of art. She develops in different manners an original project of philosophy as photography, or photography as a form of philosophizing. Posthumanist and post-anthropocentric inspirations and the inclusion of her reflections in a wider circle of a nonhuman turn constitute an epistemological framework of numerous statements devoted to the “photographic condition” in the age of dominance of digital technologies. The author argues that, in fact, photography has been a nonhuman practice since its beginnings, which is developed in her book Nonhuman Photography, preceded by the concepts of mediation and photomediation. In her latest proposals addressing the issues of the functioning of art in the era of algorithmic systems, the author develops the concept of undigital photography, which constitutes an extension of thinking about those manifestations of photography that are not of/by/for the human. The idea of “vision machines” (once proposed by Paul Virilio) takes the form of a holistic view of photography as a “medium of life,” which, unlike modernist descriptions of it as a “medium of death” (Roland Barthes), makes a significant contribution to both the theory and the history of photography. The synthetic presentation of Zylinska’s concepts is an attempt to describe and interpret the contemporary state of theoretical and methodological awareness in the field of contemporary image studies. It stems from the need to constantly reinterpret the canon of thinking about the medium of photography in the epoch of cooperation between human and non-human agencies in the area of pictorial production of images addressed to both people and machines.
 
 

Approaching the world of non-human experience: Unnatural ways of worldmaking in Ian McEwan’s fiction

Abstract The past two decades witnessed an increasing interest in literary worldmaking. This paper begins with examining the current models of worldmaking, in particular, the model of the phenomenological, the constructive, the cognitive psychological, the media, the narratological, and the ethical. In doing so, it reveals their shared feature of the human-centred view and mimetic bias. Against the backdrop of the non-human turn in the 21st century, it questions the generally accepted assumption that “the representation of human experience is the central aim of narrative” (Fludernik 1996: 51) and gears scholarly attention to non-human agents in literature and their contribution to constructing the non-human world. Drawing on insights from unnatural narratology, it aims to go beyond the existing mimetic paradigm by proposing the unnatural ways of worldmaking. Taking cues of the narrative function of worldmaking and focusing on the non-human character in particular, it delves into three types of non-human worlds in Ian McEwan’s fiction, namely the world of a fetus in The Nutshell (2016), the world of a machine in Machines Like Me (2019), and the world of a metamorphosized being in The Cockroach (2019). Arguably, by projecting the non-human world and representing the non-human experience, unnatural narrative works invite readers to address such questions as what to do with non-human world, how it is made, and ultimately what it means to humans.

Collective memory of environmental change and connectedness with nature: Survey evidence from Aotearoa New Zealand

The field of memory studies has, in recent years, experienced a ‘nonhuman turn’ that extends the analytical focus beyond anthropocentric functions of collective remembering. However, while this growing literature has considerably enhanced our understanding of how memories of environmental change may promote a stronger sense of connectedness with nature, the different arguments – developed mainly through critical readings of cultural texts – have yet to be investigated empirically. By means of an original survey of 1,100+ adults in Aotearoa New Zealand, the paper here provides a first step towards addressing the empirical gap in the ‘nonhuman turn’ literature. Two main findings emerge from this analysis. First, knowing about historical environmental change and overestimating the extent of environmental change make it more likely that individuals see themselves as part of nature. Second, the survey demonstrates that the relationship between memories of environmental change and closeness to nature interacts with wider political conflicts over how to remember the colonial past. In particular, the question of who to blame for historical environmental change shapes the effect of ecological memories in different ways, depending on whether respondents identify as European New Zealanders or Indigenous Māori.

(Re-)Assembling Cultural Studies

This paper proceeds from the assumption that the Anthropocene is characterized by a profound impurity and ‘messiness’. It argues that in order to be able to better tackle the immense complexity of the contemporary world, Cultural Studies needs to be more fully posthumanized, that is, brought into an encounter with the various theoretical formations associated with the nonhuman turn (actor-network theory, new materialism, speculative realism, object-oriented ontology, etc.). Specifically, it proposes the concept of the ‘assemblage’ as an alternative onto-epistemic commitment for Cultural Studies and a very productive hinge for such an encounter. Primarily drawing on the work of the philosopher Manuel DeLanda, the article distils the most important features of this concept and then goes on to explore how it calls for a rethinking and revision of some of the central assumptions and categories of Cultural Studies once it is ‘translated’ into the discursive horizon of the discipline. In particular, the essay, availing itself of a wide range of theoretical resources, investigates how the three key concepts of culture, power, and identity undergo a reconceptualization, one that more strongly opens them up to the nonhuman.

Magic, Necromancy, and the Nonhuman Turn

Across the humanities and the social sciences, critical attention is being given to the nonhuman as an ecological, philosophical, and political problem—the nonhuman here meaning anything from animals and plants to manufactured objects. Going under names as various as new materialism, political ecology, and object-oriented ontology, these studies comprise a movement that is largely described as the nonhuman turn.

Posthumanist Cultural Studies: Taking the Nonhuman Seriously

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a pronounced (re-)turn to questions of ontology, matter, and realism in the humanities and social sciences. What all these theoretical formations have in common is their profound challenge to human exceptionalism. Taken together, these approaches have productively been described as constituting a “nonhuman turn.” This article is a theoretical exploration of the relationship between the intellectual and political practice of Cultural Studies on the one hand and the nonhuman turn on the other. For this purpose, it brings both “into encounter” (Donna Haraway), investigating points of affinity, tension, and compatibility. The essay argues that such a theoretical encounter could prove to be tremendously fruitful, both intellectually and politically, and that Cultural Studies should thus take a genuine interest in these new approaches, engage with them, put them to the test, and, when needed, “translate” and “re-articulate” them. The result could be a Cultural Studies for the Anthropocene which would have a lot to contribute to the critical (cultural/political/social/economic) struggles being fought today.

Engaging with the non-human turn: A response to Büscher

Büscher's recent article promoted a new language of ‘more-than-human’ and ‘less-than-human’ alongside the concept of surplus alienation from nature, observing that the non-human turn would benefit from an engagement with history. In commenting Büscher's intervention, I observe that the ‘nonhuman turn’ does not have much traction in the Global South, possibly because the alienation from nature is experienced through the violent realities of primitive accumulation. The non-human turn is hardly compatible with Marx's understanding of capital and nature–society relations as organised by the law of value. The new language of the non-human turn is founded on an idealistic conception of society and history, reproposing an analytically problematic ‘we’ that perpetuates class-blind analyses.

Zadie Smith’s Nonhuman turns

ABSTRACT An ecopolitical thread runs throughout Zadie Smith’s fiction and non-fiction, problematising the author’s self-described ‘sentimental humanism’. In this article, I reflect on Smith’s narrative and essayistic treatment of animals in the context of insights drawn from the recent ‘nonhuman turn’ in critical theory and literary criticism. I argue that Smith’s work exhibits a fidelity to the existence of nonhuman alterity at the limits of human experience. In her narrative and essays, Smith threads a needle between understanding the human’s nonhuman origins and the inevitable self-referentiality of human signifying systems. I begin by examining how strategies of ‘soft representation’ across Smith’s writing deconstruct everyday anthropocentrism; I then analyse how her 2012 novel NW depicts British neoliberal ideology entangling urban foxes in human anxieties about race and class; finally, I discuss this novel’s search for potential solidarities among urban animals, human and nonhuman, who are marginalised under twenty-first-century neoliberal policies.