Year: 2024
Type: editorial
Abstract: Arising from the late Latin incontrāre, the first definition of the word 'encounter' is semantically associated with the notion of 'conflict', or the coming together of opposing forces.As such, interactions between lively beings are never neutral, but are instead inherently unsettling in that they shake the ontological foundations of the self.In this view, multispecies entanglements represent, in Katherine Wright's words, "a relational constitution of identity where beings are made in the fleshly space of encounter."Throughout this process of co-becoming in anthropogenic times, the benefits of making kin are not always mutual, especially considering that "commerce and consciousness, evolution and bioengineering, and ethics and utilities are all in play" when relational ties are established across species lines (Haraway 46).The emergence, then, of novel ecosystems within muddy moral landscapes blasted by capitalism should not be understood exclusively in terms of loss and destruction, but also through the lens of resilience and adaptability (Kirksey 2015).Such is the case, for instance, of the domestication of dogs.In fact, the humancanine bond led to a coevolution journey characterized by a troubling tension between care and control, which relies on a biopolitical framework manifesting itself in practices that range from population 'management' to compulsive breeding, which inserts our canine kin into a loop of commodification.If our claims of ownership deny dogs their bodily autonomy and agency, the disruption of individual freedoms causes constant adjustments to unpredictable fluctuations in living conditions that have inevitable ecological repercussions (Srinivasan 2013).Similarly, symbiotic relationships thrive on the entangled force between harm and co-dependency playing critical roles in ecological and evolutionary processes.By living in intimate contact with their host, a symbiotic encounter between two organisms may turn into a
Author: Elizabeth Tavella
Institution: University of Chicago
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4404045348