Anthropologists Are Talking About Ecography

What is it we actually do when we say we are conducting more-than-human ethnography? What is in the multispecies toolbox? This conversation gathered anthropologists with long-term investments in environmental research to discuss methods and exchange practical field experiences as a step towards addressing these questions. Our conversation centred around the notion of ‘ecography’ as a way to expand how we think about human societies (the ethnos in ethnography), embracing how societies are always emplaced and enmeshed within wider systems of relations (ecos). The concept, with its explicit reference to ethnography, allows us to sidestep some of the thorny epistemological debates around how, or indeed if it is possible and desirable, to cross the species boundary. For some, it remained an open question as to whether and to what extent ecography brought something novel to the table. Our conversation turned into a playful discussion about multispecies and more-than-human ethnography, and anthropology in the age of the Anthropocene.