Inquiry

How do we understand and encounter the other beings with whom we share the planet? How is proximity to life or death used to determine the value of other life forms—or their spiritual, cultural, ecological, or economic significance? Recognizing dehumanization as a tool of settler-colonialism and white supremacy, we must confront divides between human and animal as dichotomies produced with a political purpose. With this in mind, we wonder: How can we take seriously the lives and knowledges of other beings? What happens when we put non-human beings at the centre of ecological worlds? Can amphibians, apes, artificial intelligences, rock formations, and bodies of water be understood as active agents in political and environmental struggles?