After Trash

Temperament of Penicillium Societies

1_Introduction This _Perspective examines the Penicillium family as a case study to explore the interaction between life and the environment. As one of the oldest ethnic communities, the Penicillium family has existed for 3.5 billion years. The study used ethnography as a form of qualitative inquiry to track the migration, kinship, and living habits of Penicillium community residents. Here, sensory ethnography and go-along interviews provide the method that allows delving into intimate social and personal aspects of the Penicillium family. Ethnography serves as an effective approach to creating a productive connection between biology, the human material body, social practices, and the social sciences. [1] According to Foucault, the biopolitics concerned with the human species or human populations means managing reproduction, births and deaths, behavior, and health and sanitation. [2] Haraway extends this scope to hybrid entities that involve multiple species’ boundaries. She emphasizes interspecies relationships, where humans become human through interactions with environmental materials and companion species. [3] Along with the burgeoning of technoscience, more beings (are able to) become embroiled in this entanglement. The concept of trans-biopolitics highlights the power dynamics involving both human and nonhuman populations, as well as their flesh, organs, tissues, and cells. [4] One of the ways to respond to those power relationships is to add those actors into the social analysis. Therefore, the shifting of the right to interpret, the knowledge production in different situations, and the method of non-human translation by crossing disciplines are important. This piece of writing is an experiment in translating the microbes’ language. The stories I collected from Garbageland and Continent B reveal the territorial occupation, survival strategies, and emotional entanglements of the Penicillium family history. Analyzing the fieldwork enables rethinking the boundaries of life as a form and its definition. 2_Methods In past decades, the debate about the binary opposition of human and nature has become increasingly nuanced and complex, interweaving various perspectives on their interdependence. The term ‘Anthropocene’ identifies the significant impact of human behavior on the planet. To investigate other living beings, I conducted fieldwork on the planet Garbageland, which is one of the most biodiverse places in the universe. The vast expanse of ground is home to billions of species (of creatures), many of which have yet to be discovered and documented by science. It is a complicated environment for me; I am surrounded by birth and death as the creatures living in this land…