How Forests Think Toward An Anthropology Beyond The Human

288 psl.

Publikuota 2013, University of California Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-520-27610-9
OCLC numeris:: 827528818

"Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human--and thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of Ecuador's Upper Amazon, Eduardo Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the world's most complex ecosystems. Whether or not we recognize it, our anthropological tools hinge on those capacities that make us distinctly human. However, when we turn our ethnographic attention to how we relate to other kinds of beings, these tools (which have the effect of divorcing us from the rest of the world) break down. How Forests Think seizes on this breakdown as an opportunity. Avoiding reductionistic solutions, and without losing sight of how our lives and those …

"Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human--and thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of Ecuador's Upper Amazon, Eduardo Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the world's most complex ecosystems. Whether or not we recognize it, our anthropological tools hinge on those capacities that make us distinctly human. However, when we turn our ethnographic attention to how we relate to other kinds of beings, these tools (which have the effect of divorcing us from the rest of the world) break down. How Forests Think seizes on this breakdown as an opportunity. Avoiding reductionistic solutions, and without losing sight of how our lives and those of others are caught up in the moral webs we humans spin, this book skillfully fashions new kinds of conceptual tools from the strange and unexpected properties of the living world itself. In this groundbreaking work, Kohn takes anthropology in a new and exciting direction-one that offers a more capacious way to think about the world we share with other kinds of beings." -- Publisher's description.

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Fionnáin apžvelgė autoriaus Eduardo Kohn knygą How Forests Think Toward An Anthropology Beyond The Human

Thoughtful but confused

2 žvaigždutės

How Forests Think tries to present an anthropology beyond the human. It situates itself in writer Eduardo Kohn's years spent among the Runa in Ecuador. The Runa have close linguistic and cultural relationships with the forest creatures and plants surrounding them in the rainforest. Kohn posits that we can learn a more-than-human way of doing anthropology by learning to listen to these relationships.

Although the context is fascinating, and the methodology is urgent, I felt the book never really justified its many claims to be creating an anthropology beyond the human. It still felt for a large part as the voice of a western observer in a non-western culture, and while this is the truth it also feels like maybe it can never work without some other level of collaboration. The writing is also very heavy and does not flow, even though there are poetic moments at the beginning …

How Forests Think tries to present an anthropology beyond the human. It situates itself in writer Eduardo Kohn's years spent among the Runa in Ecuador. The Runa have close linguistic and cultural relationships with the forest creatures and plants surrounding them in the rainforest. Kohn posits that we can learn a more-than-human way of doing anthropology by learning to listen to these relationships.

Although the context is fascinating, and the methodology is urgent, I felt the book never really justified its many claims to be creating an anthropology beyond the human. It still felt for a large part as the voice of a western observer in a non-western culture, and while this is the truth it also feels like maybe it can never work without some other level of collaboration. The writing is also very heavy and does not flow, even though there are poetic moments at the beginning of each chapter. I kept hoping it would unlock something but it kept feeling empty and contradictory, never quite confirming or even properly presenting how the methodology could really work.

The central argument is that semiotics (signs) constitute 'thinking' and that by understanding the complexity of signs means that animals can think as well as humans. Although anecdotal attempts are made to show this, such as how a monkey can understand danger from the creaking of a tree, it is not really well argued. Although it is worth mentioning that authors who have built on Kohn's work like Michael Marder or Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing have managed to show this later, with stronger writing and justification, so this remains an important if imperfect work.

Eduardo Kohn has been praised for trying something new here, and rightly so, yet it too often is either confused or obfuscated, and the end result is a book of interesting moments, mostly those where the Runa take centre stage, but these moments are too few.