Humanising the Nonhuman: An Ecocritical Toolbox for Anthropomorphic Agency

Autori

  • Alissa Kautz University of Bonn

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2024.15.2.4813

Parole chiave:

anthropomorphism, material ecocriticism, nonhuman agency, trees

Abstract

Ecocriticism tends to acknowledge anthropomorphisms as a possible tool to create empathy for nonhumans, but in doing so mostly labels said tool as too sentimental for serious environmental literature. This paper aims to establish a categorisation of anthropomorphisms in media that allows a more diverse and detailed analysis of humanised nonhumans. It seeks to overcome the prevailing idea that anthropomorphic descriptions are limited to nonhuman animals and therefore extends the term to the humanisation of anything that is not human. Following the school of thought suggested by new materialism and material ecocriticism, nonhumans are regarded as having agency and anthropomorphising them allows humans to empathise with nonhumans. The categorisation of anthropomorphism proposed here is divided into each three markers and modes. The markers signify which part of the human can be observed in the anthropomorphised subject, while the modes define how this is realised. This article exemplifies the concept of markers and modes through anthropomorphic trees in literature, but as it is not a static concept, it allows for overlaps between categories and dynamic adaptations for other cases of anthropomorphised subjects. The three markers are Physicality, Sentience, and Language and may appear also in combinations. The modes are Projection, Manifestation, and Hybridity. As anthropomorphisms strongly intersect with theories of nonhuman agency, this, too, will be discussed in the final section of this article.

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Biografia autore

Alissa Kautz, University of Bonn

Alissa Kautz has a background in English literature and interdisciplinary approaches to slavery studies with degrees from the University of Bonn, Germany. Starting November 2024, she works as a doctoral researcher at Lund University, Sweden. Her previous research has focused on anthropomorphic trees as well as the material agency of poppies. With her PhD project, she will continue her ecocritical approaches by examining post-anthropocentric narratives in popular science books on tree and plant life. Her research foci are material ecocriticism, other-than-human and arboreal agency, post-anthropocentrism, popular science, speculative fiction, and museum studies. It is key to her that her personal engagement in environmental activism is reflected in her academic endeavours.

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Pubblicato

2024-10-30