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More Than Human -- The Microbial and Molecular World - Coggle Diagram
More Than Human --
The Microbial and Molecular World
Microbes and Other Shamanic Beings
Oupoyem
beings that are dynamic, with material that persists even after death
Have genders, reproduced, aged
have whims, intentions, their own agendas
Recognized by their aromas (multisensorial exp+ substances)
Use artefacts + substances to embody/ctrl oupoyem
Zemes
tightly associated with oupoyem
empower hosts, afford them specific capabilities
affect host behavior, communicate with/through them
short-circuit illusions
hosts of zemes = buhitie, boyaicou
cohabit with patients to cure disease
sucking/blowing
manage environment, advise war and politics, attack enemies
cultivate long-term relations with pathogens
unlike current day microbiologists (kill cultures for sterility)
Are microbiologists just rediscovering what Nahuatl/indigenous ppl already knew?
microbiology better translation for shamanism than anthropolgy
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microbio also has detached objectifying view of microbes
misplaced generalizations
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generated attenuated pathogen pinta
conveys immunity
Shamans may have strategic position for discussing climate change, conservation, and emerging zoonotic diseases
recognize kin; have social structures/hierarchies
fermentation, pathogenic, putrefaction
in Western language: microbes, yeast, bacteria, fungi, virus
Legend of the Sun and the Moon
Treponemal diseases (pinta, syphilis, yaws)
Guahayona acquired syphilis por interethnic sexual relations
treatments with arsenical Cu and alloys
'gods' faeces'
cures associated with craft (produce alloys with higher As content)
Also associated with creativity and leadership
although cure for syphilis accredited to Paul Ehrlich (1909) - Salvarsan
'gods' food' = seashells
European physicians followed Amerindian regimes of treatment
Fracastoro: Theory of Contagion
still believed in Humoral Theory of Disease
Until Leewenhook's microscopy (1670s) + Germ Theory
Also associated with imp figures in Western arts
Missionaries
political tools
colonizing the other's mind
salvation of immortal souls required wars and subjugation
sought to undermine Amerindian Shamans
roots of Anthropology
attempts to understand the other por our own Westernized concepts e.g. souls and spirits
impose Judeo-Christian categories upon Amerinds
magical explanations, like naturalist reasoning, seeks ultimate causation
The Foul and the Fragrant
Air
Equilibrium (pressures) enable life
"the smallest bubble held in balance the weight of the atm"
passive carrier/medium
after analyzing composition
turned to smell to understand air
research into decomposition (Francis Bacon)
Founder of putrefaction theory Johann Becher
fetidity = disorganization
"indiv who was unable to FIX...or to ctrl the elements which composed him"
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aromatics → vital principle
symptoms and remedy derive de olfaction
Madam Thiroux d'Arconville
played a role in def healthy vs unhealthy
pure, clean air as a natural right
air ensures cohesion
From Molecules to Perception
Smell
Perception
Chemistry, Molecules (micro) and Objects (Macro)
However, chemistry cannot predict a molecule’s smell or whether the molecule has a smell at all
Philosophers hesitant to incorporate science into their analysis of smell
Olfactory White: "Lorax emerges when you mix a minimum of thirty odorants with non-overlapping chemical features (such as particular atom groups) at equal intensity"
Oral Referral: nasal epithelium receptors add to flavor perception
COVID-19 anosmia -> exp the world behind glass
Sensation
Subjective, modification of consciousness
The same molecule elicits different sensory experiences
So how are tasting notes for coffee and wine decided?
"any account of what the object of odor perception is must center its analysis on the sensory system that processes the chemical stimulus, not the chemical stimulus"
Pathway of smell: receptors, olfactory bulb, and olfactory cortex
Changes based on physiological and ecological conditions
but odor perception differs based on the chemical stimulus??
which is why the composition of perfume can be patented, but the scent cannot be patented
Atmo-Orientalism
how cultural “otherness” overlaps with environmental toxicity
form of “environmental exclusion” through which “the environmental movement deploys cultural disgust against various communities it sees as threats to nature
Corbin: “Abhorrence of smells produces its own form of social power."
Less about the smell, and more about the fear of social decay that the smell will cause (Classen)
1970 Sanitary Ordinance = "cubic air law"; government condoned housing segregation against Chinese immigrants
met with an ironic form of mass civil disobedience as Chinese were sent to jail in crowded conditions
"public health discourses frequently reframed harmful environments resulting from structural inequality as racial characteristics.”
Even more recently (2007) responses to Pb in Chinese toys → "racialized the substance as a foreign threat to the integrity and normativity of white children’s bodies" (Mel Chen)
"Chinese Smog"
“Toxic Chinese Drywall Turns U.S. Homes into Smelly Cancer Traps”
Associate odors with traditional values/virtues
Racializing environmental risks
Anicka Yi
Explores "Smell’s capacity for menace and estrangement"
Burton: “If you want to challenge the prevailing social order, mess with its ecosystem”
“I often felt ashamed of my family’s olfactory world.”
Life is Cheap (2017) Hugo Boss Prize, Guggenheim → socially invisible status of Asian laborers
Immigrant Caucus: who are the immigrants? the Asian American women, the carpenter ants, or the museum’s visitors?
Me too :(
Biofiction: “Fiction [is] released even from text and allowed to play in haptic and olfactory domains.”
Force majeure clause (contracts): releases both parties from their obligations when a “greater force” or extraordinary circumstance prevents one or both parties from fulfilling the contract.
“If we are physically, mentally, and are effectively transformed by microbes, smells, and other trans-corporeal materials, then even something as apparently insignificant as an odor can undercut our capacity to freely enter and fulfill contracts.”