Please join the Adventures in Posthumanism Network for their research seminars which are open to all. The seminars will be delivered online via Zoom (all times are GMT).
Sensing beyond sight: The work of the senses in posthumanist research (speaker: Dr Camille Bellet, University of Manchester)
"This presentation engages with the growing field of posthumanist research to focus on the challenges of foregrounding the non-human animal perspective in knowledge production. Based on the findings of my current Wellcome Trust project, I focus on the case of animal surveillance in dairy farming and discuss insights from my historical, ethnographic, and art-based research. The project seeks to experiment with alternatives aimed at ‘decentring’ the human in the study of human-animal relationships. This involves deploying relational and multisensory approaches, as well as exploring their social and political dimensions. Investigating sensing technologies and camera surveillance systems, I delve into the effects of visualising cows, particularly through real-time images displayed on computers and smartphones. Through the deployment of non-traditional methodological and analytical tools, I find that novel sensations and sensibilities are generated among farmers (beyond sight as a sense) in cow video surveillance. The findings also challenge imaginaries – including our own, as researchers – around human sensory engagements and ways of understanding the experiences of cows. Finally, I speculate on the potential shifts in cows’ sensory experiences of being farmed with the advent of remote-sensing cameras. Through this inquiry of and with the senses, I aim to advance an innovative approach to the study of human-animal relationships in and outside farming."
"This presentation engages with the growing field of posthumanist research to focus on the challenges of foregrounding the non-human animal perspective in knowledge production. Based on the findings of my current Wellcome Trust project, I focus on the case of animal surveillance in dairy farming and discuss insights from my historical, ethnographic, and art-based research. The project seeks to experiment with alternatives aimed at ‘decentring’ the human in the study of human-animal relationships. This involves deploying relational and multisensory approaches, as well as exploring their social and political dimensions. Investigating sensing technologies and camera surveillance systems, I delve into the effects of visualising cows, particularly through real-time images displayed on computers and smartphones. Through the deployment of non-traditional methodological and analytical tools, I find that novel sensations and sensibilities are generated among farmers (beyond sight as a sense) in cow video surveillance. The findings also challenge imaginaries – including our own, as researchers – around human sensory engagements and ways of understanding the experiences of cows. Finally, I speculate on the potential shifts in cows’ sensory experiences of being farmed with the advent of remote-sensing cameras. Through this inquiry of and with the senses, I aim to advance an innovative approach to the study of human-animal relationships in and outside farming."
