Inter / -species / -net / -sect: biology. technology. promise. perversion

The events of the first quartile of the twenty-first century make clear that humans now live within two environments: one, the Anthropocene, is quickly transforming multiple systems of the Earth. It is the product of human activities that have diminished and transformed Earth’s resources. The second is the Internet, and specifically the modern Internet dominated by the practices and effects of social and interactive media. Advancements in technology enable and encourage humans to spend increasing amounts of time in digital spaces, and the realities of these spaces have grown increasingly indistinguishable from day-to-day existence.

Rather than attending to just one of these environments, this project takes up both, arguing that, together, these environments shape our interpretive practices, regardless the object of scrutiny or even our acknowledgement of them. It makes explicit the significance of these two environments together specifically through its examination of animals as physical creatures with storied lives, as digital memes and electronic subjects, and as literary characters.

Throughout, the project includes literature and literary interpretive practices as a means of tethering the consideration of the open-ended postmodern folk culture of memes and the Internet. In doing so, it explores the many ways the stories of humans and animals intersect—online and off. And through this exploration, it works to unravel the importance of stories and storytelling in navigating an increasingly complex and interconnected modern world.