Forum for Anthropology and Culture. 2025. No. 21

FORUM: HUMANS AND OTHER SPECIES

Alex Blanchette

Tufts University
110 Braker Hall, 8 Upper Campus Road, Medford, MA, USA
alex.blanchette()tufts.edu

Elena Bogdanova

Independent researcher
Helsinki, Finland
bogdanova.nova()gmail.com

Anastasia Fedotova

St Petersburg branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology, RAS
5/2 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg, Russia
f.anastasia.spb()gmail.com

Carole Ferret

Laboratoire d’anthropologie sociale CNRS / Collège de France / École des hautes études en sciences sociales
52 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, Paris, France
carole.ferret()college-de-france.fr

Mark D. Hersey

Mississippi State University
208 Allen Hall, Starkville, MS, USA
mhersey()history.msstate.edu

Anna Mazanik

Munich, Germany
anya.mazanik()gmail.com

Mark Mefed

Independent researcher
Balashikha, Russia
fleainmyhead()gmail.com

Eva Meijer

University of Amsterdam
145 Oude Turfmarkt, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
e.r.meijer()uva.nl

Henrietta Mondry

University of Canterbury
20 Kirkwood Ave., Upper Riccarton, Christchurch, New Zealand
henrietta.mondry()canterbury.ac.nz

Elena Nikiforova

Independent researcher
Helsinki, Finland
elenikifor()gmail.com

Tamar Novick

Technical University of Munich
21 Arcisstraße, Munich, Germany
tamar.novick()tum.de

Stepan Petryakov

European University at St Petersburg
6/1А Gagarinskaya Str., St Petersburg, Russia
spetryakov()eu.spb.ru

Maria Pirogovskaya

Munich, Germany
adeyanova()gmail.ru

Milena Pugina

The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St Petersburg State University
58–60 Galernaya Str., St Petersburg, Russia
milenapugina.ru()gmail.com

Lidiya Rakhmanova

HSE University
123A Griboedov Channel Emb., St Petersburg, Russia
muza-spb()yandex.ru

John Sanbonmatsu

Worcester Polytechnic Institute
100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, USA
js()wpi.edu

Julia Shanina

Karelian Scientific Centre
11 Pushkinskaya Str., Petrozavodsk, Russia
ishanina()eu.spb.ru

Drew Swanson

Georgia Southern University
Interdisciplinary Academic Building, Statesboro, GA, USA
dswanson()georgiasouthern.edu

Alexandra Terekhina

Arctic Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch
of RAS
21 Zelenaya gorka Str., Labytnangi, Russia
terekhina.yamal()gmail.com

Maxim Vinarski

St Petersburg State University
7/9 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg, Russia
St Petersburg branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology, RAS
5/2 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg, Russia
radix.vinarski()gmail.com

Alexandr Volkovitskiy

Arctic Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of RAS
21 Zelenaya gorka Str., Labytnangi, Russia
alvolkovitskiy()gmail.com

Aleksandra Zakharova

European University at St Petersburg
6/1A Gagarinskaya, St Petersburg, Russia
azakharova()eu.spb.ru

Oksana Zaporozhets

The Georg-Simmel Center for Urban Studies, Humboldt University
6 Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany
oksana.zaporozhetc()hu-berlin.de

Abstract: Studies of more-than-human sociality in general, and multispecies ethnography in particular, are becoming an increasingly popular trend in global (social, human, and transdisciplinary) scholarship. In the current forum, researchers from various disciplines discuss the advantages, limitations, and challenges of this trend. They also share their thoughts on why multispecies research has (or has not) an appeal in Russian academia and what the future may hold for it. The discussion addresses the key issues of the origin of this trend and its distinctive vocabulary; the subject and object problem; the search for an appropriate methodology and elaborating a scholarly narrative; interdisciplinarity and the relationship between political activism and research.

The original Russian publication also included contributions from Varvara Baholdina, Lomonosov Moscow State University; Ian Helfant, Colgate University; Stepan Kalinin, International Slavic Institute, Moscow, Russia; Frédéric Keck, Laboratoire d’anthropologie sociale, CNRS / Collège de France / École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, France; Olga Korovkina, independent researcher, Moscow, Russia; Vladimir Korshunkov, Vyatka State University, Kirov, Russia; Olga Kosheleva, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; Ekaterina (Katya) Krylova, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Irina Podgorny, CONICET / Archivo Historico del Museo de La Plata UNLP, La Plata, Argentina; Denis Sivkov, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia, and The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka), Moscow, Russia; Sergei Sokolovskiy, Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; Anna Varfolomeeva, Independent researcher, Oulu, Finland; Grigorij Vinokurov, European University at St Petersburg, St Petersburg, Russia, and Higher School of Economics University, St Petersburg, Russia.

Keywords: more-than-human sociality, multispecies ethnography, animal turn, Anthropocene, interdisciplinarity.

Acknowledgments:
Julia Shanina’s material is produced within the framework of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education program (the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences) “Cultural heritage of Karelia and historical experience: new approaches and interpretations,” 124022000029-0.
Alexandra Terekhina and Alexandr Volkovitskiy’s material is produced within the framework of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education program “Terrestrial ecosystem of Northwestern Siberia: assessment of the modern transformation of the communities,” 122021000089-9.

To cite: ‘Forum: Humans and Other Species’, Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2025, no. 21, pp. 11–128.

doi: 10.31250/1815-8870-2025-21-21-11-128

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/eng021/forum.pdf