Multispecies Studies, Environmental History and Historical Animal Studies: interdisciplinary dialogues from Latin America and the Caribbean
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32991/2237-2717.2025v15i2.p18-49Keywords:
political ecology, animal studies, multispecies ethics, multispecies ethnography, posthumanismAbstract
Multispecies Studies (MS) engage with the vitality of the world at a time of alarming planetary deterioration. This approach critiques the binaries imposed by Western modernity and prioritizes, instead, the “naturalcultural assemblages” that integrate humans and more-than-humans into complex networks of interaction. This essay identifies intersections between MS, Environmental History, and Historical Animal Studies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), aiming to foster interdisciplinary dialogue. The objective is to encourage researchers in these fields to analyze in greater depth the dynamics shaping human-animal relationships and critically reflect on how multispecies coexistence, framed within specific historical contexts, becomes a co-constitutive process of shared worlds. It is argued that emerging issues on the global climate agenda, such as ecological justice and effective environmental protection, necessitate collaboration with other living beings and the formation of alliances that transcend our own species. Addressing the challenges of anthropogenic climate change and the neoliberalization of nature demands not only paradigm shifts at the epistemological and discursive levels but also the adoption of onto-political stances. In LAC, Environmental History and Historical Animal Studies can be enriched through dialogue with multispecies perspectives that recognize the importance of integrating the agency and performative capacities of more-than-human beings in the construction of sustainable futures.
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