Technology and Ecologies: Human and Non-human
Sociological investigations foreground that all forms of human life are not only determined and constrained by various types of technologies and ecological processes, but that they are often beyond human manipulation and control. In this line of thought, ecological and post-humanist developments have come to intersect, such that humans are not viewed as sovereign beings that exercise control over other beings but are beings amongst others; thus, what is given analytical emphasis is how beings – human and non-human – are entwined and effect the world they are situated in. Such entanglements have long been implicit in ways of being and belonging such as nomadic pastoralism and certain modes of practicing agriculture. The intent is to bring these relationships to the forefront, to see how they constitute and imbue the social, such that any response to issues such as climate change and artificial intelligence must offer not only ways to understand our contemporary worlds but respond to how policy, environmental projects and global alliances are taking place.