William E. Connolly: An Ecology of Nonhuman Modes of Production
Friday | June 20, 2025 | 12:00-12:45
Lounge in the University Library, Steubenstraße 6, 99423 Weimar
Abstract:
What happens if you rework Marxist ideas of a mode of production, extending it to a variety of intersecting , nonhuman processes? Well, perhaps even more vibrant, volatile and regionally diverse images of planetary ecology unfold. Key examples of nonhuman initiated modes of production include species crossings, glacier flows, the ocean conveyor, storm production, photosynthesis, and perhaps the origin of time itself. This essay examines those modes, exploring how they interact with each other, what the products are, and what happens when the collide with the modes initiated by neoliberal capitalism. We begin to discern more clearly how climate damage is produced and, perhaps, the need to both protect the grandeur of a planet far more powerful than we are and how to transcend humanocentric modes of production.