I’m participating in a reading group here at the University of Vermont entitled “Ontology Across the Disciplines.” (More than just participating… I’ve been gently arm-twisted by the organizers, anthropologists Parker Van Valkenberg and Ben Eastman, into chairing the discussions. Thanks, guys \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n
Since I know there are folks out there who may be interested, I thought I’d invite online readers to read along with us, and to have a parallel conversation\u00a0here or on other blogs.<\/p>\n
We’ve started a wiki of potential readings, but most of these duplicate other lists that are out there, for instance, Somatosphere’s “reader’s guide to the ontological turn” series<\/a>, which included contributions by Judith Farquhar<\/a>, Javier Lezaun<\/a>, Morten Axel Pederesen<\/a>, and Annemarie Mol<\/a>.<\/p>\n We are considering beginning with readings of two sets of short contributions by a variety of (primarily) anthropologists, since that is the field that has been most fervently recognizing the “ontological turn” recently (and because the organizers of the reading group are anthropologists):<\/p>\n 1. Cultural Anthropology<\/em>‘s 2014\u00a0online series on “The Politics of Ontology,<\/a>” curated by Martin Holbraad and Morten Axel Pedersen, with contributions by Ellizabeth Povinelli, Eduardo Kohn, Mario Blaser, Helen Verran, Marisol de la Cadena, Annemarie Mol, and others.<\/p>\n 2. the\u00a0Hau<\/em>\u00a0Colloquium on “The Ontological Turn in French Philosophical Anthropology,” in Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory<\/em> 4.1 (2014)<\/a>, featuring contributions by Philippe Descola, Marshall Sahlins, Bruno Latour, Kim Fortun, Michael M. J. Fischer, and John D. Kelly.<\/p>\n Beyond that things are wide\u00a0open.<\/p>\n At the organizing meeting, two books elicited particular interest\u00a0as potential readings: Eduardo Kohn’s How Forests Think<\/a><\/em> (and see the Hau<\/em> book symposium on it here<\/a>), and Brent Plate’s A History of Religion in 5<\/a>\u00bd<\/a>\u00a0Objects<\/a> (because Plate will be coming here later this semester; see here<\/a> for a summary).\u00a0A few “social ontologist” philosophers were brought up.\u00a0I mentioned the\u00a0special issue of Social Studies of Science<\/em> devoted to ontology<\/a>\u00a0as a possible set of readings as well.<\/p>\n More generally, there was concern expressed that the group\u00a0keep a focus on\u00a0the link between theory and practice\/fieldwork\/ethics, so as not to become too abstract and theoretical; and that we stick to things — bodies, objects, and material practices (e.g., idol or icon use, bicycling, sweeping) — and how they get theorized in cross-cultural fieldwork contexts.<\/p>\n What happens will depend largely on what the participants — who come from fields including anthropology, archaeology, geography, sociology, science and technology studies, environmental studies, religious studies, and philosophy — decide.<\/p>\n I’ll keep readers of this blog updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m participating in a reading group here at the University of Vermont entitled “Ontology Across the Disciplines.” (More than just participating… I’ve been gently arm-twisted by the organizers, anthropologists Parker Van Valkenberg and Ben Eastman, into chairing the discussions. Thanks, guys \ud83d\ude09 ) Since I know there are folks out there who may be interested, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[688977],"tags":[16795,17206,123574,16788,123573,692664,123575,123576],"class_list":["post-8017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geo_philosophy","tag-anthropology","tag-descola","tag-kohn","tag-latour","tag-ontological-turn","tag-onto_epistemology","tag-reading-groups","tag-sts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-25j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8115,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/03\/12\/oad-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":8017,"position":0},"title":"OAD update","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"That stands for \"Ontology Across the Disciplines,\" which is the UVM faculty (and grad student) reading group that\u00a0I said I'd keep readers updated on. I've been a bit remiss with that, as we had a meeting 3 weeks ago and will be meeting again at 4 p.m. today. Here\u00a0is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7078,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2013\/12\/01\/ontologies-of-bilocation\/","url_meta":{"origin":8017,"position":1},"title":"Ontologies of bilocation","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For interdisciplinary scholars, it's always a challenge to decide which conferences to attend and which to forgo. The problem is particularly acute when the conferences are held at the same time, as occurred last week with the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and American Academy of Religion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7082,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2013\/12\/01\/thinking-forests-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":8017,"position":2},"title":"Thinking forests & animals","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's one of the participants at the AAA's ontology panel, McGill anthropologist Eduardo Kohn, applying ontological speculation -- including Peirce and biosemiotics -- to animals and forests: http:\/\/youtu.be\/mSdrdY6vmDo And here's a \"keynote conversation\" among Kohn, Donna Haraway, and Colin Dayan from the same meeting, the UC Berkeley's Funny Kinds of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/geo_philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mSdrdY6vmDo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5586,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2012\/02\/28\/process-objects-at-the-nonhuman-turn\/","url_meta":{"origin":8017,"position":3},"title":"Process-objects at The Nonhuman Turn","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The preliminary schedule is out for The Nonhuman Turn in 21st Century Studies. The list of speakers reads like a \"who's who\" of the neo-ontological, speculative-realist crowd in cultural and media theory: Steven Shaviro, Jane Bennett, Brian Massumi, Erin Manning, Mark Hansen, Ian Bogost, and Tim Morton are among the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/geo_philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13454,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/02\/09\/ontology-101\/","url_meta":{"origin":8017,"position":4},"title":"Ontology 101","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The word ontology comes up a lot in the fields I work in (loosely speaking, the environmental humanities and social sciences), especially among scholars grappling with cultural differences and \"decolonial\" thinking. Here's a crack at a 5-minute introduction to it for newbies. Ontology is commonly defined as something like \"the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/geo_philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/image-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/image-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2900,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/04\/04\/ecology-ontology-politics-1-pickerings-cyborgs\/","url_meta":{"origin":8017,"position":5},"title":"Ecology-ontology-politics (1): Pickering’s cyborgs","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Ecology, ontology, politics: These three terms are among the most common themes of this blog, but their intersections deserve a more sustained exploration. 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This first post reviews and reflects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/geo_philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2011\/03\/P9780226667898.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8017"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8026,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8017\/revisions\/8026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}