Hehe just kidding, thanks so much Samantha, that was a fascinating listen/read. I think I'll read the book. I love the idea of precarious assemblages, after all, if you remove all the talk isn't that just what we all are? Also the reluctance to accept linear thought, reminded me of David Graeber somewhat, and The Dawn Of Everything. Anyway, thanks great stuff.
Indeed we are all, if you ask any Buddhist, just a temporary ragbag of molecules and hangups! I loved Graeber's book too, though I hadn't put the two books together in my mind until now. Thanks, as ever!
Thanks for writing about this book. I read it a few years ago and found it fascinating and also hard to understand at times. Probably due to how ingrained my thoughts are around progress. We are indeed in precarious times so I may need to give it another read.
Yes, it does take a bit of persistence - she is an academic after all, so it's a bit dense and rigorous at times, but the stories of the people and mushrooms pulled me through it.
Tsing's notion of an "assemblage" echoes the dynamic engine of evolution which is "adaptation within an environmental niche". Hidden under the canopy of post-industrial capitalism are millions of such niches (Substack would be one!). We each need to search for ones we are suited for so we can thrive.
I love this concept! As long as I can remember, I have looked at the destructive path we are on as linear, but now I see another possibility and reason for hope.
“Matsutake mushrooms cannot be farmed. They spring up unpredictably, and only in forests that have been continually disturbed by humans.” This is a wildly interesting fact worth savoring, or it is to me anyway. Thank you, Samantha.
Sorry folks I had forgotten to check the box to allow free subscibers to comment. I've changed the settings on this post now! Thanks to @songstudies for letting me know...
Adding this book to my queue! Assemblages, precarity, non-linear models of progress. The kind of relational, interconnected language we need to lead us out of the Anthropocene. I’m all in. Thanks for this wonderful review!
Thanks, Samantha, for another powerful and thought provoking post. Of course I’m not in the least surprised. That is your stock in trade! I wandered back to your post from 2023 in which you focussed on Hine’s book in great detail, which provided me with a clearer understanding of “precarious assemblages.” At the age of 74 now, that terminology offers a challenging alternative to the prevailing linear predictions (which would result in my current residence in north Florida being under water). Challenging due to Hine’s proposal of there being an array of possible results without a formulaic path forward. I fully expect some inability to sleep peacefully for more than one night.
As for next week, and your departure for an exhibition of your four large works from the last year or so (your children, as I’ve referred to them), I wish you well. I hope some of the creative energy, and hope, from fellow creators comes home with you. “What we can’t do alone we can do together,” I’ve heard it said.
AT LAST I CAN SPEAK!
Hehe just kidding, thanks so much Samantha, that was a fascinating listen/read. I think I'll read the book. I love the idea of precarious assemblages, after all, if you remove all the talk isn't that just what we all are? Also the reluctance to accept linear thought, reminded me of David Graeber somewhat, and The Dawn Of Everything. Anyway, thanks great stuff.
Indeed we are all, if you ask any Buddhist, just a temporary ragbag of molecules and hangups! I loved Graeber's book too, though I hadn't put the two books together in my mind until now. Thanks, as ever!
Thanks for writing about this book. I read it a few years ago and found it fascinating and also hard to understand at times. Probably due to how ingrained my thoughts are around progress. We are indeed in precarious times so I may need to give it another read.
Yes, it does take a bit of persistence - she is an academic after all, so it's a bit dense and rigorous at times, but the stories of the people and mushrooms pulled me through it.
Tsing's notion of an "assemblage" echoes the dynamic engine of evolution which is "adaptation within an environmental niche". Hidden under the canopy of post-industrial capitalism are millions of such niches (Substack would be one!). We each need to search for ones we are suited for so we can thrive.
I love this concept! As long as I can remember, I have looked at the destructive path we are on as linear, but now I see another possibility and reason for hope.
Yes, me too Paul. We don't realise that's how we've been taught to think until someone points out an alternative...
“Matsutake mushrooms cannot be farmed. They spring up unpredictably, and only in forests that have been continually disturbed by humans.” This is a wildly interesting fact worth savoring, or it is to me anyway. Thank you, Samantha.
I found it fascinating too! The web of connections these fungi need to grow is so complex it evades our simplistic ideas of monocrop cultivation.
Very interesting, and will circle back to it. But first, congratulations, and all best wishes for the exhibition. It looks/sounds amazing.
Thanks Maria! I’ll have to scrape the mud off my boots and look presentable!
Sorry folks I had forgotten to check the box to allow free subscibers to comment. I've changed the settings on this post now! Thanks to @songstudies for letting me know...
Wasn’t it Kafka who wrote, “Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made.”
Adding this book to my queue! Assemblages, precarity, non-linear models of progress. The kind of relational, interconnected language we need to lead us out of the Anthropocene. I’m all in. Thanks for this wonderful review!
Nonlinear models of progress does seem right up your alley, Kimberly. ;)
Thanks, Samantha, for another powerful and thought provoking post. Of course I’m not in the least surprised. That is your stock in trade! I wandered back to your post from 2023 in which you focussed on Hine’s book in great detail, which provided me with a clearer understanding of “precarious assemblages.” At the age of 74 now, that terminology offers a challenging alternative to the prevailing linear predictions (which would result in my current residence in north Florida being under water). Challenging due to Hine’s proposal of there being an array of possible results without a formulaic path forward. I fully expect some inability to sleep peacefully for more than one night.
As for next week, and your departure for an exhibition of your four large works from the last year or so (your children, as I’ve referred to them), I wish you well. I hope some of the creative energy, and hope, from fellow creators comes home with you. “What we can’t do alone we can do together,” I’ve heard it said.