Politics, space and the more-than-human condition

Abstract

The more-than-human condition is a risky (some would say foolish) attempt to recalibrate politics. Misgivings concerning a tightly prescribed ‘human condition’, have been well-rehearsed, but a large question mark still hangs over the kinds of politics that are enabled by the surfeit of actors, agents, things and relations that seem to inhabit this more-than-human turn. In this chapter, I rehearse some of the key elements of a more-than-human scaffolding, and then review some recent critiques of its political grip. The chapter provides a considered account of what a more-than-human condition can offer, especially in a world that is lurching from crisis to crisis (health, climate, security) and where structural inequalities have become more rather than less apparent. The key argument is that historical as well as spatial analyses of the more-than-human are key to any future politics.