In academia, challenging human superiority in epistemology and ontology is a radical move, but this perspective may not be as radical for Indigenous peoples and forest communities. They view humans as microcosmos within a larger cosmological framework, where humans are not superior to other beings. 

A forest community in Indonesia, the Laskar Hijau (Green Troops) has spent 25 years in afforestation, actively involving plants, animals, and nonliving entities, which reflects their belief in the interconnectedness of all life.

This perspective leads to a fundamental (re)thinking of what humans are, suggesting that humans are not isolated beings but rather consist of a network of ecological interactions with all the living and nonliving beings.

Speaker

Wigke Sukmana Putri is a more-than-human PhD researcher at the Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology (CADS), University Leiden and KITLV. She employs multimodal and sensory anthropology to explore her research through photo making, collecting herbarium specimens, creating sound and smell maps of birds/monkey/wind/spirits, and tactionception map of sacred places. 

Discussant

Chaya Vaddhanaphuti is a human geographer / environmental geographer interested in socioenvironmental issues from perspectives of political ecology, more-than-human and relational geographies, the Anthropocene, and Science and Technology Studies (STS). His research interests include cultures of weather and climate change, Thai climate policy, environment justice and indigenous resource governance of Northern Thailand.

Moderator

Wengki Ariando is an activist-researcher at KITLV. His main research interests include coastal and small island development, political ecology, marine conservation, climate change adaptation, and indigenous resource governance, with a particular focus on Sea Nomadic Communities in Insular Southeast Asia.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 17 April from 15.30 – 17.00 PM (CET).

Registration

If you want to join this seminar on location, please register via: kitlv@kitlv.nl

If you wish to join this seminar online, please register here

UUKS

This seminar is part of the monthly Unraveling Unconventional Knowledge Systems (UUKS) seminar series.

Image

The dialogue of images of Mount Lemongan from Klakah volcanic lake’s view spans from 1926, 1853 and 2024 and their interaction with the living and the nonliving beings. Photo credits: Kurkdjian 1926, Franz Junghuhn 1853, Wigke Sukmana Putri 2024. Illustration by Wigke.

Flyer