Multispecies Ethnography

“The goal in multispecies ethnography should not just be to give voice, agency or subjectivity to the nonhuman… but to force us to radically rethink these categories of our analysis as they pertain to all beings.”

S. Eben Kirksey and Stefan Helmerich (2010). The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography. Cultural Anthropology. V.25, Issue 4.

Definition

Multispecies ethnography examines the interaction between people and all other living things. It recognizes the reality of the current Anthropocene: human design has an impact on the natural world.

Context

Ethnography

Procedure

Like all types of design research, the process for doing multispecies ethnography depends on the situation. However, there are several general steps to effectively record data and observations.

1. The first step is to identify what the goal of the ethnographic study is. What is the species that is being studied? What needs to be found out? Why is there a need to do this? Answering these question will give guidance to the research.

2. Next, decide how to document the information. Taking photographs and videos are useful ways of capturing wildlife, which can be supported by writing down notes. The tool used will depend on what is being studied.

3. The last thing to prepare is a plan of action. The location and timing need to be scheduled so that the researchers can actually study their objective.

Use Case

In 2016, I conducted a research experiment which used a blend of both multispecies and photo ethnography. This was done during a summer ecology and conservation course I took on the island of Bonaire.

My partner Clay and I wanted to analyze how effective the artificial substrates tires, concrete blocks, and pier supports are at providing a healthy habitat. These objects not only affect the sustainability of the habitat around them, but they also damage the aesthetic and economic value of the reefs themselves. We documented the biodiversity at various coastal sites using an underwater camera and a diving slate for taking notes. The power of photography is the ability to analyze a moment in time. This makes it an especially useful method for capturing the biodiversity of an ecosystem. After collecting data for several days, we were able to count fish and invertebrate species and identify which of these were invasive or predatory.

Data Analysis

Ethnography usually involves qualitative data, but in our case we were able to deduce measurable effects based on our collection of photos and notes. Using photos like the one below, we could clearly see and count the different types of species living near the different objects.

We realize that our photos probably didn’t capture every species found at these objects. Furthermore, our data only revealed the biodiversity at a particular moment in time. Regardless, we were still able to show that some objects supported biodiversity (like concrete blocks used to anchor boats) while other objects didn’t (like small tires). Clay and I presented our research to biologists and we shared recommendations based on our findings.