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ANIMISM_HARVEY

                                                      August 31, 2022

                                       ANIMISM_CREATIONS

                                       https://www.google.com/books/edition/Animism/q2np2LCDmIMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Animism:+Respecting+the+Living+World&printsec=frontcover

Following a wikipedia reference, I looked at the
preview for this up at google books:

  Graham Harvey, "Animism: Respecting the Living World" (2006)

    "Animists are people who recognise
    that the world is full of persons,        A google scholar search
    ony some of whom are human, and that      on "animism" places
    life is always lived in relationship      this book in the number
    with others.  Animism is lived out        one position, with a
    in various ways that are all about        citation index of 1179.
    learning to act respectfully
    (carefully and constructively)                You might nod your head
    towards and among other persons."             in approval that the
                                                  wikipedia page cites it.
  So you see, the virtue of animism is
  that it encourages us to live our                 Myself, I wonder if the
  lives with the same respect for the               wikipedia page reference is
  non-human that every human being                  responsible for it's
  gives to each other.                              prominence among scholarly
                                                    citations: if it only takes
    (I sometimes wonder whether these               a thousand hits to place
    self-styled neo-animists have much              first, then editing
    acquaintence with the behavior of               yourself into wikipedia
    actual human beings...)                         could now be the key to
                                                    scholarly success.
    (And further, I would wonder about
    the notion that every human being
    *deserves* to be treated
    respectfully, because I can think
    of a number of exceptions.)


  Ah, but it seems that Graham Harvey
  is not *completely* ignorant of
  human reality:

    "Knowing that people, human and other-than-human,
    can be decetiful and devious, and that there are
    tricksters and anti-social persons in the world,
    means that it is important to look out for masks,
    illusions, deceptions, tricks of perception and
    false claims."


Graham Harvey continues with his manifesto:

    "Much of the argument of this book hinges on the
    question of what a person is. ... At he heart of
    the matter is the opposition between 'persons'
    and 'objects'.  Persons are those with whom other
    persons interact with varying degrees of
    reciprocity.  Persons may be spoken _with_.
    Objects, by contrast, are usually spoken
    _about_.  Persons are volitional, relational,
    cultural and social beings.  ... That some
    persons look like objects is of little more value
    to an understanding of animism than the notion
    that some acts, characteristics, qualia and so on
    may appear human-like to some observers. ... The
    ubiquity of terms like respect and reciprocity in
    animist discourse demonstrates that the key
    identifier of a person is someone who responds to
    or initiates approaches to other persons."

The author here is so determined
not to present the human view as
privileged in *any* way, that he's
fucking annoying to read.

   Dude, you're a human being, I'm a human
   being, we *care* about human viewpoints,
   we can't look at things with anything
   except a human viewpoint.  Who do you
   think you are?  Relate to *this* jack.
   Respectfully, of course.



Skimming for his examples: "deities, rocks, trees".
Never tools, artworks, or even the legendary Steely Dan.

   "... I seek a way of speaking that would be 'good'
    (in the sense of life affirming and enhancing) for
    all persons, human and other-than-human."

Even Donald Trump?



    It occurs to me that somone who claims to be
    listening to the trees (man) is not actually in
    contact with the Council of Ents but is rather
    appointing themselves as spokesman.

    And it's all very well to go around being life affirming
    with the trees, but what's good for the trees may be bad
    for the sage brush, and who are you to take sides?

    And what if trees don't *like* you to think of them as
    humans?  An insulting comparison, if you ask me.


At long last, a single example involving the spirit of human creations:

    "Harry Garuba .. says that an episode in Gabriel García
     Márquez's _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ provides         
     'perhaps the simplest and most effective statement of
     the core idea of animist belief'.  This is the moment
     when the gypsy artist Melquiades drags two metal ingots
     from house to house, attracting all kinds of metallic
     objects to follow him.  '"Things have a life of their
     own," they gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent.  "It's
     simply a matter of waking up their souls".' "

So, maybe if only we had more woke sprocket wrenches around,
the animists would relate to them better.



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