The thought that there is a zone within which politics makes sense and a limit beyond which it stops making sense calls to mind the old Greek distinction between "Zoe" and "Bios", as Agamben talks about it. Also the etymological connection to "polis". Built into the language of politics is a sense that it stops at the city limits. I've played with the language of "uncivilised politics" now and then, just to double down on the paradox. (Lena from the Long Table has some thoughts on this, too, from her research on Dark Mountain.) I'm thinking also of the parallel hierarchies Martín Prechtel describes in the Mayan village where he lived, the hierarchy of the chiefs and the hierarchy of shamans, the one human-oriented and at the centre, the other at the edges and oriented to human/more-than-human relations.
Concerning "animals are stupid", this feels like a statement that holds for a certain value of "stupid", admittedly a pertinent one. "Stupid" might also be an accurate description of the way of going about inhabiting a planet that currently dominates the activities of our own "species". James Bridle makes a similar point early in Ways of Being: Beyond Human Intelligence. David Abram has an essay somewhere about the plurality of skills/intelligences (not sure what language he uses exactly) between species.
The taboo on universalising, especially when it comes to the kind of beings that don't have a Linnean classification, seems like a postmodern reaction against the grand unifying projects of early 20th century comparative mythology, etc. But there's a move beyond that which is coming - I think of the way Gordon White uses "something like" (with scare quotes) throughout Ani.Mystic to enact a humbler mode of cross cultural comparison. The Blaser paper makes me think of Illich's short book, H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness.
Finally, all this talk of traps takes me back to Hyde's Trickster Makes This World. And I realise that my own trap may be this kind of proliferation of possible connections...
Thanks Dougald. I really do think I had better read Ani.Mystic. Writing my last post (which was something of a struggle) I remember feeling how much of a relief it would be to just hear someone saying 'sure, fairies are real.' I get a feeling I could rely on Gordon White to say that and not make my head hurt. One thing about this Paris trip is that I'm a bit stuck within the limits of the citable for the moment. Which - having just had a look at it on Amazon - is exactly what Gordon White begins his book by complaining about. Oh well. I had the James Bridle book in my hypothetical pile also... I have actually read Lewis Hyde...
I guess the thing is that I got to sit down on this hill and weave my trap out of the materials that I brought with me or have to hand and then I've got to hope and fear that it gets itself broken.
You bait your word-traps richly, Nicholas!
The thought that there is a zone within which politics makes sense and a limit beyond which it stops making sense calls to mind the old Greek distinction between "Zoe" and "Bios", as Agamben talks about it. Also the etymological connection to "polis". Built into the language of politics is a sense that it stops at the city limits. I've played with the language of "uncivilised politics" now and then, just to double down on the paradox. (Lena from the Long Table has some thoughts on this, too, from her research on Dark Mountain.) I'm thinking also of the parallel hierarchies Martín Prechtel describes in the Mayan village where he lived, the hierarchy of the chiefs and the hierarchy of shamans, the one human-oriented and at the centre, the other at the edges and oriented to human/more-than-human relations.
Concerning "animals are stupid", this feels like a statement that holds for a certain value of "stupid", admittedly a pertinent one. "Stupid" might also be an accurate description of the way of going about inhabiting a planet that currently dominates the activities of our own "species". James Bridle makes a similar point early in Ways of Being: Beyond Human Intelligence. David Abram has an essay somewhere about the plurality of skills/intelligences (not sure what language he uses exactly) between species.
The taboo on universalising, especially when it comes to the kind of beings that don't have a Linnean classification, seems like a postmodern reaction against the grand unifying projects of early 20th century comparative mythology, etc. But there's a move beyond that which is coming - I think of the way Gordon White uses "something like" (with scare quotes) throughout Ani.Mystic to enact a humbler mode of cross cultural comparison. The Blaser paper makes me think of Illich's short book, H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness.
Finally, all this talk of traps takes me back to Hyde's Trickster Makes This World. And I realise that my own trap may be this kind of proliferation of possible connections...
Thanks Dougald. I really do think I had better read Ani.Mystic. Writing my last post (which was something of a struggle) I remember feeling how much of a relief it would be to just hear someone saying 'sure, fairies are real.' I get a feeling I could rely on Gordon White to say that and not make my head hurt. One thing about this Paris trip is that I'm a bit stuck within the limits of the citable for the moment. Which - having just had a look at it on Amazon - is exactly what Gordon White begins his book by complaining about. Oh well. I had the James Bridle book in my hypothetical pile also... I have actually read Lewis Hyde...
I guess the thing is that I got to sit down on this hill and weave my trap out of the materials that I brought with me or have to hand and then I've got to hope and fear that it gets itself broken.
Anyway can James Bridle, David Abram or Gordon White ever match the brilliance of this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mirror ?