Soilkin

Bibliographic Data

ID3914241
AuthorsAlexandra Regan Toland
Year2023
Volume15
Issue3
Pages119-139
Publication date2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Humanities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2201-1919 • E-ISSN: 2201-1919
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/22011919-10746023
OpenAlexW4389727060
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited33

Drawing on ideas from the history and philosophy of soil science, Fluxus performance, and queer-feminist STS, this article responds to a question posed by environmental researcher Hugo Reinert: "What modes of passionate immersion-or love, or intimacy-could a stone afford?" Situated in a fluid space between environmental humanities and artistic research, the Soilkin project develops a series of relational exercises to frame three basic propositions: (1) a non-normative, animistic understanding of geologic subjectivity could trouble accepted criteria for life on earth, leading to kinship with geogenic entities; (2) soil formation (pedogenesis) could be interpreted as a performative process of learning and becoming, rather than simply weathering and aging, with appreciable ontological implications; and (3) soil kinship is situated within a dynamic interplay of resistance and consent, demanding that the terms of reciprocity between humans and soils be mutually beneficial and appropriate to the slowed-down timescale of events in which soil-beings live and operate. The article integrates theoretical provocations with performative scores to expand and sensitize soil-scientific knowledge while, at the same time, contributing to multispecies scholarship on kin-making with geogenic and pedogenic others

Performative utterance · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism

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