Multispecies Research Network

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?

Little Bee-Eater (Merops pusillus) in the Zambezi Region, Namibia

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.

DateTopicReading
12 January 2022Relaunch and welcome of new members to the Multispecies Research Network–
19 January 2022Practical approaches to multispecies studiesGan, E. 2021: Diagrams: Making Multispecies Temporalities Visible
26 January 2022The nonhuman turnBüscher.B. 2021. The nonhuman turn: Critical reflections on alienation, entanglement and nature under capitalism
2 February 2022Conviviality in the conservation debateBücher, B. and R. Fletscher. 2019. Towards Convivial Conservation
9 February 2022The “Gardawan Kura” in Nigeria: peripatetic livelihoods with hyenasPresentation of current research work by Hauke Vehrs
16 February 2022The Etosha National Park and the Haiǁǁom – Thinking with relations and prospects for future conservationPresentation of current research work by Ute Dieckmann
23 February 2022RewildingLorimer et al. (2015): Rewilding: Science, Practice, and Politics.
27 April 2022Resuming after fieldwork: reports about our research experiences and possible future projectsn.a.
4 May 2022Methods in MSE ResearchWels (2020): Multi-species ethnography: methodological training in the field
in South Africa
11 May 2022Methods in MSE Researchdu Plessis (2022): Tracking Meat of the Sand: Noticing Multispecies Landscapes in the Kalahari
18 May 2022Methods in MSE ResearchLee and Ingold (2006): Fieldwork on Foot: Perceiving, Routing, Socializing
25 May 2022MSE Literaturevan Dooren (2014): Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction.
1 June 2022Methods in MSE ResearchSwanson (2017): Methods for multispecies anthropology
8 June 2022Methods in MSE Researchvan Dooren and Rose (2016) Lively Ethography
14 June 2022Guest lecture résuméThom van Dooren
22 June 2022MSE Literaturede Wolff (2017): Plastic Naturecultures
29 June 2022Feminist studies and MSEBarad (2003): Posthumanist Performativity
13 July 2022Ecological invasions in the SA (political) contextComaroff, Jean (2017): Invasive Aliens: The Late-Modern Politics of Species Being
20 July 2022MSE, Ethics and Activism Giraud, Eva (2019): What Comes after Entanglement? Activism, Anthropocentrism, and an Ethics of Exclusion
Reading: Introduction
27 July 2022ERC REWILDING internal meeting
3 August 2022The pluriverse as a matter of careBalser, Mario and Marisol de la Cadena (2018): Introduction: Pluriverse Proposals for a World of Many Worlds
10 August 2022MSE, Ethics and ActivismGiraud, Eva (2019): What Comes after Entanglement? Activism, Anthropocentrism, and an Ethics of Exclusion
Reading: Full book
17 August 2022MSE ClassicsKohn, Eduardo (2007): How dogs dream: Amazonian natures and the politics of transspecies engagement
24 August 2022OntologiesCarrithers et al. (2010): Ontology Is Just Another Word for Culture
31 August 2022The ontological turn in the MSE contextKirksey (2015): Species: a praxiographic study
6 September 2022Pre-fieldwork sessionWrap up of our readings and finally discussion before fieldwork
26 October 2022Online meeting: fieldwork in progress Sharing experiences from the field and discussing MSE methods and methodology
30 November 2022Online meeting: fieldwork in progressSharing 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