ANTHS20

What kinds of social lives do plants and fungi lead in relation to humans, and humans in relation to plants and fungi? How do humans, plants, and fungi communicate? This course brings anthropological perspectives to these questions, and considers how language mediates this relationality. This course also examines how the category of plant––and increasingly the fungi––carries a political charge, as well as new multispecies collaborative potentials. Topics include traditional Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property; biodiversity and conservation; colonization and sovereignty; language, personhood, and the construction of human/more-than-human social identities. Particular attention is paid to contemporary issues around plant and fungi use in Maine.