L3: New Approaches to Nonhumans

Question 1

What are problems with orginal anthropological approaches to nonhumans? (2)

Answer 1

It puts all humans above all nonhumans as superior levels of beings (1)

Creates a conceptual dichotomy between humans (culture) and nonhumans (nature) (1)

Question 2

What are some theories and approaches that support the more-than-human turn? (5)

Answer 2

Actor Network Theory (1)

Performative approaches (1)

Semiotic approaches (1)

Ethnography and ethology (1)

Multispecies ethnography (1)

Question 3

What is ethology? (1)

Answer 3

The study of animal behaviour

Question 4

When did Actor Network theory emerge? (1)

Who is it associated with? (1)

Answer 4

Late 1970s-80s (1)

Bruno Latour (1)

Question 5

What is actor network theory? (2)

Answer 5

A symmetrical approach that describes everything relavent in a particular situation (1)

Humans and nonhuman species are all treated equally in the network (1)

Question 6

How does material semiotics compliment actor network theory? (2)

Answer 6

Helps us understand how different things in the network act in a way that defines themselves and other things (1)

Meaning is created through network (1)

Question 7

What is an agnostic and grounded approach? (3)

Answer 7

Doesn’t presume beforehand that any particular aspect is going to be more important or needs more focus (1)

Grounded because it builds from what is encountered in the field (1)

Builds an idea of the network from what is going on (1)

Question 8

What are limitations of Actor network theory for nonhumans? (3)

Answer 8

Flattens the social to make all the elements equal (1)

Agency is about effects, not intentions (1)

Nonhumans considered to have as much agency as humans (1)

Question 9

What does Michel Callon’s attempts to farm scallops in St Brieuc Bay show? (3)

Answer 9

That scallops had the power and agency to make or break the experiment (1)

Scallops had effects through the network (1)

Scallops treated in the same way as humans (1)

Question 10

What are performative approaches? (2)

Answer 10

Tries to understand how reality is ‘done’ rather than how it is represented (1)

Shows how scientists operate in reality-producing network rather than how well they represent reality (1)

Question 11

What is a case study that demonstrates performative approaches (1)

How? (1)

Answer 11

Adrian Franklin’s trout acclimitisation in Tasmania (1)

The trout were able to adapt to the new conditions in Tasmania and so became distinctly Tasmanian through their own acclimitisation in the new area (1)

Question 12

What was Amotz Zahavi’s approach to studying Arabian babbler birds? (2)

Answer 12

Took a posteriori approach built from the birds’ behaviour rather than a priori hypothesis through controlled experiments that tested variables (1)

Showed that it is possible to study other species in the same way we study humans (1)

Question 13

What is an interspecies pidgin? (1)

Answer 13

A hybrid mix through which humans and other species can communicate

Question 14

What are the three elements to the semiotic triangle? (3)

What do these work together to do? (1)

Answer 14

Vehicle (1)

Referent (1)

Sense (1)

Work together to create meaning (1)

Question 15

What is the vehicle in the semiotic triangle? (1)

Answer 15

The thing itself (the sign)

Question 16

What is the referent in the semiotic triangle? (1)

Answer 16

What the thing refers to

Question 17

What is the sense in the semiotic triangle? (2)

Answer 17

The interpretation that is made (1)

OR

The meaning that emerges from it (1)

Question 18

What does it mean for symbols to be conventional? (1)

Answer 18

There is an agreement about what it means

Question 19

What is the newest approach for studying nonhuman species? (1)

Who coined it and when? (2)

Answer 19

Multispecies ethnography (1)

Eben Kirksey and Stefan Helmreich in 2010 (1)

Question 20

What is the aim of multispecies ethnography? (1)

Answer 20

To place emphasis on opening up lines of communication, both with other forms of life and other disciplines

Question 21

What is a problem that we face in the anthropocene? (1)

Answer 21

The effects that humans have on other species and the effects other species have on us are obscured by aspects of modern living

Question 22

What is an example of a connection that humans have with nonhumans in the anthropocene? (1)

Answer 22

The direct and material relationship and connnections involved with eating food