SOAS Research Online

Abstract

How might water matter in accounts of human and non-human relations? Drawing in material from the ontological turn in anthropology, including complex encounters with the ocean, glaciers and rivers, alongside indigenous and legal non-human subjectivities this paper explores liquid encounters as the means to re-imagine beyond the human without the binaries of gender / heteronormativity. Through interdisciplinary dialogue we search out spaces for new contributions to researching, encountering and understanding non-human possibilities and the potential for alternative global organising / approaches that start with water. How might water matter in accounts of human and non-human relations? Drawing in material from the ontological turn in anthropology, including complex encounters with the ocean, glaciers and rivers, alongside indigenous and legal non-human subjectivities this paper explores liquid encounters as the means to re-imagine beyond the human without the binaries of gender / heteronormativity. Through interdisciplinary dialogue we search out spaces for new contributions to researching, encountering and understanding non-human possibilities and the potential for alternative global organising / approaches that start with water.