More-than just understanding

Upon arriving in Canada, I had a very basic understanding of what more-than-human geographies meant - a definition deriving from one lecture back home at the University of Exeter, describing it as a geography for non-humans, encompassing animal geographies, debates about the Anthropocene, and as a challenge to deconstruct categories of nature. Whilst this definition is not strictly incorrect, it is simply just one definition in a labyrinth of what the more-than-human is.  

Spending my time reading, listening, and conversing with the more-than-human theory, and its multitudes, is still not enough to truly know what it is inside-out. However, in these twelve weeks in Canada, working with Dr Lauren Judge, courtesy of the MITACS Globalink scheme, I have nourished my knowledge of more-than-human theory, and has given me skills to go forth and attempt imagining more-than-human futures. I was matched to Wilfrid Laurier University in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, to explore more-than-human food futures through research design and arts-based methodology, assisting Dr Judge with literature reviews, ethics applications, and designing participatory workshops with the community alongside Maria Catalina Duarte, another MITACS visiting researcher. During this time, I was exposed to a vast library of literature concerning speculative design, arts-based research, degrowth, and decentering human development from the future, and have spent time in the natural world of Ontario, including trips to RARE Community Research Reserve and the Bruce Peninsula, having conversations with Dr Judge and colleagues about this nature. How it is a habitat and space of care for nature and humanity, how it has been shaped by public policy, Indigenous relations, but overall the power of the earth.  

Coming to Canada from the UK, I expected a few cultural differences, but what shocked me the most were the attitudes toward geography, especially that of qualitative methodology. I hadn't realised the UK geography scene was so open and forward with their qualitative methods and research practices, until it seemed alien to so many Waterloo community members when I explained why I was here, and within the school of environmental science. Artwork, music, works of fiction: since high-school, they have all been taught to me as valuable artefacts of geography, whereas here, discussing arts-based methodology seemed foreign and something new. For me, it seems harmonious to envision more-than-human futures through research creation, allowing community members to work through creative outputs to inform our understandings about alternative futures rather than just traditional technological and economic growth. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of research like this taking place in Canada.  

Throughout the past twelve weeks, the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer was unveiled to me, heavily informing my knowledge of relations with the non-human, and the importance of kinship with the natural world. Furthermore, in the UK, it may be more common to work in qualitative ways, but the influence of Indigenous knowledge is simply not there, despite it being so valuable for more-than-human imaginations. Vital insights on how we live with what nature has provided for us is crucial when stripping away growth and development from the narrative of the future comes from North American Indigenous practices, where more-than-human understanding has always existed, without being denoted so. This is how we define the more-than-human, through its value of non-human entities, and its decentring of anthropocentric practices that lead to trouble within planetary wellbeing.  

Reflecting on my time in Canada this summer, I have been so grateful for the opportunity to develop my knowledge in this area. From having very little experience with the more-than-human theory from a different geographical context, I am excited to carry this newfound knowledge into my final year as a geography student and to watch this theory grow and shape speculative futures.

Poppy Fellows, Visiting Researcher and Student at University of Exeter