Interpreting the Past through Non-Human Eyes: Animals, Reciprocity and Multispecies Kin in the Andes
Part of the 2024 Spring Colloquium Series
About the Speaker: Aleksa K. Alaica is an anthropological archaeologist who investigates the way that state formation, exchange, and worldview are mediated by the lives and agency of non-human animals. By examining animals as active participants in social formations, she proposes that we can break down the constraints of Western Enlightenment categories that silo the reciprocity between humans and other entities.
Abstract: What does it mean to gaze through non-human eyes? An anthropological focus on non-humans, such as animals, seems to decentre our attention on human subjects as the focus of our discipline. The theme of the animal gaze is linked to another key question, what do animal lifeways tell us about human experiences, values and belief systems? Based on over 14 years of archaeological research in the Andes, Dr. Alaica will discuss the different ways animals are embedded in food systems, networks of exchange, and ontological categories of subject, agent, and kin. This presentation puts forward the argument that in order to begin to understand the lives of past societies, the reciprocal relations between humans and animals must be a key aspect of inquiry.
