Breathing-With Other-Than-Humans

Steve 4. Tu

doi:10.17742/IMAGE29717

Authors

Steve 4. Tu University of Toronto https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9352-7858

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE29717

Abstract

This paper outlines part of a research-creation project focused on human/tree communication on a specific campus green space of a Canadian university. As part of a multispecies ethnographic study of the university, I explore the reciprocal relationship between humans and trees via multispecies duoethnography, a method I am pioneering that draws on time, breathing-with, imagination, and artistic expression. I surface some nuances of interspecies communion, specifically emphasizing the role of breath in moving from acts of attentiveness to frequencies of attunement with arboreal beings.

Author Biography

Steve 4. Tu, University of Toronto

Steve Tu is a PhD student in the department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto). He is a SSHRC CGS-D scholar and Digital Research Alliance of Canada-funded researcher, a graduate fellow with the School of Cities, a research fellow with Inlight Mental Health, and affiliated with the Centre for Urban Environments, SDGs@UofT, and DIVERT Mental Health. His research interests include philosophy and theory of higher education, multispecies ethnography, posthumanities, “artificial” intelligence, the professoriate, faculty and student mental health, post-qualitative inquiry, research-creation, terror management theory, and anti-Asian racism.

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