Including non-humans in research

Including non-humans in research

Environmental Humanities (EH) is a new and rapidly growing interdisciplinary focus within the humanities. Methodologies and research questions within this field are therefore not yet greatly constrained by prior presumptions. New methodological dilemmas are emerging and creative responses are possible. One challenge noted widely in emerging EH research comes from those who wish to write and think from more-than-human perspectives. Many approaches are being tried, and I will outline some of these in my presentation. My own tentative efforts involve working with a non-human collaborator, Sydney’s mangroves.

My research explores theory that engages with what it is to be between, and works the theory, filter-feeder-like, through the mangroves of Sydney’s estuaries. Mangroves approached me and offered themselves, asserting themselves as well-qualified for this particular enquiry. Some may find this kind of language use alarming, but that is part of the point, one which I will explain through my presentation.

I am living now in one of Sydney’s catchments, so I am already implicated, entangled, responsible, as a member of the mangrove community. Shifting the focus through my research to maintain an awareness of the porosity of my researcher skin is part of this tentative effort towards challenging the anthropocentric focus of research.

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