Anthropology of More-than-Human Worlds

This article is written to invite students to reconsider a foundational assumption that is often taken for granted in anthropology and the social sciences: the division of the world into “nature” and “culture” as if this distinction were clear-cut and universal. Drawing primarily on the work of Philippe Descola, the article uses this framework to raise ontological questions about the modern world.

Rather than beginning with definitions of what nature or culture is, the article encourages readers to pose a more fundamental question: where do humans situate themselves among other living beings, and why are non-human entities—animals, plants, landscapes—so often rendered “voiceless” within the epistemological and legal orders of modern society? The example of companion animals is employed to illuminate the tension between emotional intimacy and the absence of political and legal status in a particularly concrete way.

For students, this article should not be read as a body of knowledge to be memorized. Instead, it is intended as a conceptual tool for practicing critical questioning. For instance, why are love or emotional attachment insufficient to confer personhood on a living being? How does the nature/culture divide continue to operate even within relationships that we perceive as the most intimate and affectionate?

Readers are encouraged to engage with this article alongside Philippe Descola’s original work in order to grasp the full structure of his theoretical argument. However, the full-text PDF of this article is not publicly available. Students who wish to consult the complete version are kindly requested to seek permission directly from the author prior to use, in order to respect academic rights and the conditions of scholarly circulation.