ERCCODE: SH3;SH5_5;PE8_11;SH3_14
ERC: The Social World, Diversity, Population: Sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, demography, education, communication;Visual arts;Sustainable design (for recycling, for environment, eco-design);Science and technology studies
unibz-area: Enable: Design & Art Competences, Material Culture and Human Development
description: What if ecological engineers learned to become ethnographers, integrating local knowledge and ecological expertise into their engineering projects? And what if design bridged between species through art and ethnography? How can we learn from freshwater fish and European wolves? And how can we learn from ecological engineers? In short: we are very different species and want to develop crafty practices for a world in which we can thrive together. We are a team of anthropologists, artists, designers, and STS scholars, coming together to explore new forms of collaboration and other-than-human practices – whether local or scientific – in relation to technical objects. How can different kinds of relationships between humans, other-than-humans, and technology be fostered to thrive together? The forms of knowledge and practices explored within Dialoguing Species relate to different beings – humans, fish, and wolves –, different professional groups and activities – designers, engineers, environmental protection officials, farmers, fishers, scientists, shepherds –, different settings and environments – design studios, fish hatcheries and farms, freshwater habitats, alpine pastures, laboratories – as well as different technological objects – fish ladders and passes, camera traps, transmitters, fences for wolves. Our goal is to share and develop crafty practices for other-than-human or interspecies design by investigating how humans learn from and relate to other animals, in order to design technologies that enable non-competitive and possibly collaborative ways of living that ensure ecosystem restoration.