More than Human Geographies Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is the focus of more-than-human geographies?
It studies how nonhuman entities (animals, plants, materials, etc.) shape landscapes and societies, challenging the human-centered focus of traditional geography.
How does more-than-human geography challenge traditional human geography?
By questioning the idea of the “essential human,” bridging the divide between human and physical geography, and rejecting “objective” knowledge as neutral.
What are some examples of non-human entities with agency in urban spaces?
Parakeets in London, introduced via the pet trade, have shaped city ecologies through their growing populations.
What is meant by “agency” in more-than-human geographies?
Agency refers to the capacity to act and produce effects—extending beyond humans to include nature, animals, materials, and technologies.
What does “nature’s unruliness” refer to?
The unpredictable ways in which natural entities act independently, often disrupting human plans and expectations.
What is anthropocentrism?
The belief in human exceptionalism and prioritization of human value over all other beings.
How does Fiona Probyn-Rapsey define anthropocentrism?
As placing humans at the center and making them the ultimate measure of all things.
What hierarchies does anthropocentrism reinforce?
It reinforces stratification among humans by race, gender, and caste, in addition to human/nonhuman hierarchies.
What dualisms are challenged by more-than-human thinking?
Culture/Nature, Human/Nonhuman, Mind/Body, and Reason/Emotion.
What does Donna Haraway mean by “becoming with”?
Humans and nonhumans are co-constituted through mutual relationships, e.g., dogs and humans as “companion species.”
According to Anna Tsing, what is “human nature”?
A multispecies relationship involving constant interactions with plants, microbes, fungi, animals, etc.
What kinds of entities are included in more-than-human analysis?
Not only species, but also non-living entities like rivers, glaciers, and technologies that are seen as agentive and consequential.
What does “other-than-human” emphasize?
Avoiding hierarchies of worth and human-centered language in referring to nonhuman beings.
What are the three key principles of more-than-human geography?
- Material agency
- Situated and multiple knowledges
- Relationality between humans and nonhumans
In what ways can nonhumans be perceived in human societies?
As kin, commodities, sources of food/livelihood, spiritual beings, leisure objects, symbols, pests, or aesthetic contributors.
How do Indigenous standpoints inform more-than-human geographies?
They emphasize relationality and place-based knowledge, such as the Australian Aboriginal concept of “Country” that includes all beings and elements in mutual care.
What does the Te Awa Tupua Act in New Zealand signify?
It grants the Whanganui River legal personhood, acknowledging Māori spiritual and ancestral ties to the river.
Why is the more-than-human approach potentially problematic in relation to Indigenous knowledge?
It can risk co-opting Indigenous knowledge without addressing colonial and systemic inequalities.
Can drawing nonhumans into political life reinforce hierarchies?
Yes, more-than-human entanglements may serve exclusionary or supremacist projects rather than egalitarian aims.
What is settler colonialism?
The transformation of colonized land into a settler home through elimination or assimilation of Indigenous peoples and control over nature.
How are animal bodies implicated in settler colonialism?
Animals are used to naturalize settler systems while also being subjected to the same violence and control as colonized humans.
What are the techniques of governing both nature and people under settler colonialism?
Normalization, Regulation, and Criminalization of nonhuman-human relations.
How does the concept of the “human” exclude marginalized groups?
Many communities—Black, Indigenous, queer, disabled—have been historically and currently denied full human recognition.
What is meant by the phrase “rethinking the human”?
Recognizing that the category “human” has been exclusionary and reconstructing it beyond systems of domination.
