Developing on emergent theories in the environmental humanities and multispecies anthropology, the introduction brings chapters of this edited volume in conversation with current scholarship in the field. Engaging particularly with the work by Eriksen (2021) on the homogenization biological and cultural diversity, while being attuned to Hage’s concept of the impacts of dominating forms of “generalized domestication”. The editors ask how there is a cultivation of proximity through distance through destroying forests, degrading habitat, deconstructing spaces reserved for animals, yet paradoxically forcing the more-than-human (including the microbial) to enter human lives. These modes of becoming-with others through factors, such as habitat loss or capitalist agribusiness, suggest that we need to nurture alternative futures through engaging with local communities and Indigenous perceptions of other beings, highlighted by the chapters within this volume. 

Key Question

• What would it mean for more-than-humans to flourish and how can humans explore the possibility of a nurturing way of life in a more-than-human world?

Inspirational Texts

Chao, Sophie, Karin Bolender, and Eben Kirksey, eds. 2022. The Promise of Multispecies Justice. Durham: Duke University Press.

Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan, Nils Bubandt. 2017. Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.