Communication and multispecies studies in the face of the Anthropocene: the case of frogs

Author(s)

Natalia Aranha de Azevedo

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2024-02-26

Examining board members

Susana Oliveira Dias; Carolina Cantarino Rodrigues; Daniela Tonelli Manica

• Advisor: Susana Oliveira Dias

Abstract

Yes, I love frogs. "Cururu, sapo-martelo, rãzinha-assobiadora, perereca-de-folhagem, perereca-de-colete, rãzinha-de-folhiço, sapinho-pingo-de-ouro…" This love led me to research and create ways to cohabit with frogs. Recognizing the risk of extinction of these animals, I think of frogs as my companion species, seeking not to think or write only about them, but with them. In this way, I delve deeper into their ways of life through scientific readings, laboratories, fieldwork, the arts and collaborations with authors from different areas, especially Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing and Silvio Ferraz. This immersion revealed interconnections between forms of life, resulting in an interdisciplinary research path, which seeks to raise awareness of the importance of frogs and other silenced beings. In the face of the Anthropocene, it is not enough to invest in communication that only denounces the impacts of human activities on the lives of these animals. It is necessary to engage the public in learning about what it can mean to communicate and listen in the face of mass media. In this work, we invite the public to let themselves be affected by the frogs' ways of life, as a way of taking seriously the departure from a dichotomous thinking, which leads us to think-live-feel from within the separations between organisms and environments, natures and cultures, arts and sciences. The invitation is to feel like part of a network of multispecies interactions. To experience these possibilities, we got involved in "work tables with amphibians", designed based on the articulation between the practices of herpetologists from the Laboratory of Natural History of Brazilian Amphibians (LaHNAB), the materials made available by the Fonoteca Neotropical Jacques Vielliard (FNJV), works of artists (Rosana Torralba, Silvana Sarti, Jaime Reimer, Cildo Meireles, Breno Filo and Mauro Tanaka) and multispecies studies (Haraway, 2021; Tsing, 2019) and the experiences of the research group multiTÃO: prolifer-artes sub-vertendo ciências, educações e comunicações, from the Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Journalism (Labjor). These tables were shared with high school students, artists and researchers and sought to be configured as small exercises in "speculative fable" (Haraway, 2021), a notion that helped us understand how meetings and connections occur in multispecies tangles through the interaction between sciences, arts and communication. The work tables resulted in an interactive exhibition entitled "Follow the frogs", which guides this dissertation through thinking with affective and perceptual experiences that do not reproduce the sender-receiver logic. The work tables and the Exhibition made us think about multispecies listening, where symbiosis emerges as a power to share responsibilities and experience a relationship with these animals that mobilizes the movement of "affecting and being affected", something fundamental for generate different engagements in the face of the issues raised by the Anthropocene (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 23/03090-2 - Communication and multispecies studies in the face of the Anthropocene: The case of the cane toads.
• Grantee: Natalia Aranha de Azevedo
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master