The Multispecies Network is an initiative of scholars based at the Global South Studies Centre at the University of Cologne. The network was initiated by anthropologists from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology that are dedicated to study multispecies assemblages, entanglements and networks and who would like to explore multispecies relations on a multi- and interdisciplinary level. In two major projects – the Collaborative Research Centre 228 and the REWILDING programs – we look at multispecies relations in Eastern and Southern Africa over the next years and engage with questions such as:
What are the characters of multispecies relations in different contexts, what kinds of transformation processes do these relations experience, and how are multispecies futures envisioned, proposed and created?

Multispecies Reading Group
The Multispecies Reading Group engages in the exploration and reading of texts that deal with multispecies relations in the humanities. Inspired by the works in the field of multispecies ethnography, we engage with materials that offer new perspectives on animal-human relations and emphasise a more-than-human perspective.
Date | Topic | Reading |
---|---|---|
12 January 2022 | Relaunch and welcome of new members to the Multispecies Research Network | – |
19 January 2022 | Practical approaches to multispecies studies | Gan, E. 2021: Diagrams: Making Multispecies Temporalities Visible |
26 January 2022 | The nonhuman turn | Büscher.B. 2021. The nonhuman turn: Critical reflections on alienation, entanglement and nature under capitalism |
2 February 2022 | Conviviality in the conservation debate | Bücher, B. and R. Fletscher. 2019. Towards Convivial Conservation |
9 February 2022 | The “Gardawan Kura” in Nigeria: peripatetic livelihoods with hyenas | Presentation of current research work by Hauke Vehrs |
16 February 2022 | The Etosha National Park and the Haiǁǁom – Thinking with relations and prospects for future conservation | Presentation of current research work by Ute Dieckmann |
23 February 2022 | Rewilding | Lorimer et al. (2015): Rewilding: Science, Practice, and Politics. |
27 April 2022 | Resuming after fieldwork: reports about our research experiences and possible future projects | n.a. |
4 May 2022 | Methods in MSE Research | Wels (2020): Multi-species ethnography: methodological training in the field in South Africa |
11 May 2022 | Methods in MSE Research | du Plessis (2022): Tracking Meat of the Sand: Noticing Multispecies Landscapes in the Kalahari |
18 May 2022 | Methods in MSE Research | Lee and Ingold (2006): Fieldwork on Foot: Perceiving, Routing, Socializing |
25 May 2022 | MSE Literature | van Dooren (2014): Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction. |
1 June 2022 | Methods in MSE Research | Swanson (2017): Methods for multispecies anthropology |
8 June 2022 | Methods in MSE Research | van Dooren and Rose (2016) Lively Ethography |
14 June 2022 | Guest lecture résumé | Thom van Dooren |
22 June 2022 | MSE Literature | de Wolff (2017): Plastic Naturecultures |
29 June 2022 | Feminist studies and MSE | Barad (2003): Posthumanist Performativity |
13 July 2022 | Ecological invasions in the SA (political) context | Comaroff, Jean (2017): Invasive Aliens: The Late-Modern Politics of Species Being |
20 July 2022 | MSE, Ethics and Activism | Giraud, Eva (2019): What Comes after Entanglement? Activism, Anthropocentrism, and an Ethics of Exclusion Reading: Introduction |
27 July 2022 | ERC REWILDING internal meeting | |
3 August 2022 | The pluriverse as a matter of care | Balser, Mario and Marisol de la Cadena (2018): Introduction: Pluriverse Proposals for a World of Many Worlds |
10 August 2022 | MSE, Ethics and Activism | Giraud, Eva (2019): What Comes after Entanglement? Activism, Anthropocentrism, and an Ethics of Exclusion Reading: Full book |
17 August 2022 | MSE Classics | Kohn, Eduardo (2007): How dogs dream: Amazonian natures and the politics of transspecies engagement |
24 August 2022 | Ontologies | Carrithers et al. (2010): Ontology Is Just Another Word for Culture |
31 August 2022 | The ontological turn in the MSE context | Kirksey (2015): Species: a praxiographic study |
6 September 2022 | Pre-fieldwork session | Wrap up of our readings and finally discussion before fieldwork |
26 October 2022 | Online meeting: fieldwork in progress | Sharing experiences from the field and discussing MSE methods and methodology |
30 November 2022 | Online meeting: fieldwork in progress | Sharing experiences from the field and discussing MSE methods and methodology |
Contact
Hauke-Peter Vehrs
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropoogy
University of Cologne
Global South Studies Centre
Classen-Kappelmann Straße 24
50931 Cologne