Multispecies Syntopia: Collaborative Survival in the Nuclear Anthropocene

Abstract

My thesis paper argues that we—a multispecies assemblage of humans and non-humans occupying different ecologies—are living in the era of the “Nuclear Anthropocene.” From nuclear contamination to climate change, we find ourselves enmeshed in accumulating ecological crises ever since the Cold War. To achieve our collaborative survival with other species, this paper proposes to reimagine the planetary ecosystem through the perspective of plants, in particular, plants that embody the aftermath of nuclear militarization. Through a two-fold structure, this thesis questions humans’ dominant role in knowledge production while eliciting an eco-centric way of world-making. It draws upon new materialism and post-humanism to reflect on cross-species communication between human and non-human agents. In conclusion, it proposes the concept of “multispecies syntopia”—a combination of “syn,” which means “together”, and “topia,” which means “place.” It is the encounter and symbiosis of different species in the same habitat. Instead of anthropomorphizing the plants, the thesis seeks to expand our sensibilities and vocabularies in an attempt to understand the global ecosystem on a planetary time scale. Through the stories of plants and a comparative analysis of various artworks, I aspire to stitch us back into the tapestry of the multispecies assemblage and to feel more in the world grander than ourselves.