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Acting with the World: Agency in the Anthropocene
In the Anthropocene our actions are coming home to roost. Global warming, species extinctions, and environmental disasters are the dark side of our mastery of nature. In Acting with the World, Andrew Pickering identifies a different pattern of being and doing that can evade this dark side, a pattern which he calls acting-with the world. In contrast to our usual practice of acting on the world, acting-with foregrounds nonhuman or more-than-human agency and aims to attune our practices to the propensities of nature. Pickering explores examples of acting-with from around the globe, including flood control on the Mississippi River, ecosystem restoration on the Colorado River, the Room for the River project and rewilding in the Netherlands, natural farming in Japan, Aboriginal fire techniques in Australia, and Amazonian shamanism. Pickering argues that acting-with intimately and gracefully plugs us into nature, undercuts the Anthropocene from below, and offers a constructive approach to addressing otherwise intractable wicked problems.
168 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 2, 2025
Pickering provides us again with exceptional insight.
What is interesting about Pickering is his interest in real examples of practice. In The Cybernetic Brain, Pickering does this with cyberneticians and shows how their experiments and actions reflected a different way of being in the world: one based on continual adaptation between parties rather than one being forced to conform to the other.
In Acting With The World, Pickering shows this pattern in many examples of relationships between humans and nature - from building dams, farming, and controlled fires. On the one hand there is acting-on, human will forced upon nature, and acting-with human will acting with the reciprocal acts of nature, from which, something new and desirable emerges. Acting-with, then, isn't a scientific movement, but a paradigm and way of being in the world.
The book is very accessible, without heavy jargon or abstractions. Pickering's interest in action and performance shines in his writing as he fills his book with a focus on real documented actions in the world.
The West could be a better place if more people understood the distinction and incorporated more acting-with in their lives. Pickering has influenced me hugely and greatly contributed to my own books in biology education and this one has not disappointed in provoking more meaning making. It'll be one I'll return to again.
What is interesting about Pickering is his interest in real examples of practice. In The Cybernetic Brain, Pickering does this with cyberneticians and shows how their experiments and actions reflected a different way of being in the world: one based on continual adaptation between parties rather than one being forced to conform to the other.
In Acting With The World, Pickering shows this pattern in many examples of relationships between humans and nature - from building dams, farming, and controlled fires. On the one hand there is acting-on, human will forced upon nature, and acting-with human will acting with the reciprocal acts of nature, from which, something new and desirable emerges. Acting-with, then, isn't a scientific movement, but a paradigm and way of being in the world.
The book is very accessible, without heavy jargon or abstractions. Pickering's interest in action and performance shines in his writing as he fills his book with a focus on real documented actions in the world.
The West could be a better place if more people understood the distinction and incorporated more acting-with in their lives. Pickering has influenced me hugely and greatly contributed to my own books in biology education and this one has not disappointed in provoking more meaning making. It'll be one I'll return to again.
Displaying 1 of 1 review