What protocols do we rely on for interspecies interactions? What’s the base set from which cultural practices ranging from pet domestication to agriculture to tending the wild emerge? Which flawed protocols underly ongoing extinction crises?
Interspecies Collaboration Protocols is a handbook for cultivating intentional, collaborative interspecies relationships, with a focus on humans and our more-than-human kin, oriented towards addressing root causes of the climate and extinction crises. Hypothesizing methods for interspecies attunement and acting upon values of multispecies thriving, this handbook sparks curiosity about protocols underlying relationships between living beings, offering frameworks and speculations for regenerative worldmaking. Sporulate widely!
This seems like a powerful idea of a direction for protocol studies given the universal nature of how we all relate to animals in various different ways as part of our lives.
I wonder if the pill could be refined to focus on a more specific species or subset of animal relationships, though I don’t know offhand if that would be beneficial; it’s also powerful to think about our relationships with animals at a broader scale, and I almost think this could scale up to be a PIG grant.
Would a brief reference to a real-world example like the parrot video communication study be beneficial, to ground the pill in more concrete reference points?
Incidentally, the idea also kind of reminds me of this thinkpiece I remembered reading:
agree that this could scale up but I think the scope might be a little too big for a PIG? Hence why it’s a bit of speculative fabulation for now. Want to note that the notion of ‘interspecies’ here includes Flora and Funga, and microbes as well - not just Fauna/Animals
hey @hpymntn – loving everything you’re sharing here at the forum & your work. This proposal feels so close to my heart, as we’ve been diving into experiments and inquiries of similar lineages with collaborators at https://sympoiesis.xyz/
Would be happy to talk more and learn from our trickster & interspecies pathways!
Yes agree on referencing real-world examples! I co-facilitate monthly gatherings of artists, scientists, and other interspecies inquirers who engage in various collaborations with more-than-human beings in and near Tovaangar (Los Angeles), so would have some rich variety of real-world examples to work with. And currently facilitating a class, ‘the Interspecies Artist’s Way’ through the School of Making Thinking, in Lenapehoking, where we’re exploring these questions collectively. Many of the participants also have some practice engaging more-than-humans. Also interested in exploring longer term intergenerational relationships - i.e. cultivation of teosinte in to maize, cultural traditions around koji/ aspergillus oryzae, etc.