Transspecies Mental Transition Through Conceptual Displacement
(387 words, 2-4 minutes)
Disclaimer that I barely know what I’m talking about, this is based on the introduction of Thinking Through Seawater by Melody Jue (media theorist). I thought her ideas were applicable to nonhumanity to I decided to write about it!
Conceptual displacement, in this context, is to think about the world differently by recontextualizing anthropocentric concepts (or concepts we tend to think about in anthropocentric ways) into nonhuman settings. Jue’s specific method of doing this is to displace common technological terms into the ocean, “submerging” them, to see how our understanding of them shifts when they are placed in a different environment. For example, the term “storage” can be recontextualized by thinking of what it would mean in the ocean: seawater would be the storage medium, so perhaps “storage” refers to the sediment that collects on its floor, being slowly reshaped into something new.
So how does this relate to nonhumanity? I propose practicing this kind of conceptual displacement in an effort to mentally transition or connect with a theriotype/phytantype/kintype/etc. Think almost as a form of meditation. Throughout our everyday lives, we are constantly bombarded with anthropocentric concepts that can contribute to feeling disconnected or distanced from our identities. By practicing this method, we can relate these concepts back to how we might think of them if we were theriform or raised/socialized as our identity(ies). In this way, a “desk” can become “a place in which to work” can become the territory of a wolf. “Screen” can become “a flat panel of visual information” can become the horizon line. “Doors” are now oceanic cliffs, “reading” is now sensing through mycorrhizal networks, “fashion” is now to create and use to your advantage. There are endless possibilities.
I know a lot of us do this to a lesser extent already, what with referring to “beds” as “nests”, but I wanted to think of it a little more conceptually. And I know this would likely be impossible to do constantly (in fact I would instinctively advise against it), as it took me a long time just to come up with some of those examples, but I think just spending time in this lens every once in a while can really shift your perspective, even if temporarily.
Be a little closer to your identity. Think inhumanly.
- Hallow