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Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Sympathy as a key explanation for 'symbolification'

The new concept we formulated in the bird-atmosphere world, 'symbolification', leads me to the insect worlds, since the term, insect, is often used negatively in daily language. It is sometimes used to symbolically describe a person who is despicable or insignificant. Lewis's critical reflection here offers an account of this phenomenon in greater details which are very inspiring. Through examining Emily Dickinson’s “I Heard A Fly Buzz — When I Died”, he realises that an insect does not “have an ability to sympathise”. They have no access to the human psyche, nor do they share the similar set of emotional responses and conventions as humans with regards to death. It seems that perhaps this demand of sympathy from other species is a major factor resulting in our preference of certain species over others. I find the idea of sympathy here is also specifically built upon similarities– the tacit expectation that an individual animal or insect has the same kind of agency (or at least, exhibit the traits or signs of such) as a person does; while human beings could be frustrated when this is certainly not the case. Indeed, it is the “pure mechanism” of the insects that we as humans need to recognise as the insects' form of agency and the ‘condensation of ancestral wisdom passed from generation to generation’.

For me, this at first articulates a fundamental difference that distinguishes humans and insects – one has agency, the other does not. But the phrase “ancestral wisdom” breaks down such a difference, suggesting that there are, perhaps, ultimately, some similarities that point to the truth commonly found in the human and insect worlds: in both the case of funerals as a human practice, and the insects' practice of ‘eating raw flesh’ of the human bodies, are a form of traditions inherent within the species, imparted by the ancestors. This further develops the notion of sympathy here from identifying similarities to finding common grounds among seemingly vast differences.

Lai Kin’s critical reflection, “man-moth tongue”, similarly identifies a mechanism in insects - the spider’s web - as a parallel to the sensory reality in which human beings perceive the world. Specifically, a spider’s web is likened to human language as a form intra-activity present in both species, which makes me think about the role of language in engendering and mediating inter-species sympathy.

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Agency of the Ignored The significance of the insect is a concept most intriguing in the critical and creative engagement of insect worlds. The exploration of mankind’s experiences with what they thought of as trifling forms of life raises the question of what is arguably the ‘correct’ way to interpret them. Assign insects with a sense of agency: a will to act on their own accord, or propel ourselves to continually believe that they are husks, only existing to carry out their ancestral rituals. A closer examination into insects and their behaviour specifically in literature allows us to breakdown common notions, draw connections and align thought processes in an attempt to further understand the creatures that heave the essence of existence on their minute shoulders.

A reflection on the close reading of Emily Dickinson’s “I Heard A Fly Buzz — When I Died” revealed a subversion in relation to conventional thought processes of insects. The poem, which is about death cannot shake away the presence of the fly and as result, questions came into mind about the ontology of humans and what it meant to insects. The answer is that insects could care less about the psychological workings of human. In the case where death is the most climaxing feature of one’s life, the fly only has the capacity to respond by eating the rotting flesh left behind it. It does not have the ability to sympathise. Here, we begin to get a glimpse of Massumi’s “pure mechanism” whereby the fly can only considered as “an innate condensation of ancestral wisdom passed from generation to generation.” It has no thoughts of us allowing it to disrupt such solemn procedures as funerals.

While it can be agreed that insects have no opinion of humans, that does not mean we should condemn them for lack of sympathy. The metamorphosis in our understanding and interpretation of insects continued with the donning of perspective in the form of photo essay. Particularly in the case of the hummingbird moth, and the spider-web, the intra-actions that take place within their spectrum shapes the perception about them. More specifically, the phenomena of the hummingbird moth is resulted from intra-action of adaptation, allowing it to inherit the instinctive agency of the actual hummingbird. The written in second-person, choose-your-own-adventure style writing, attempts to capture the intra-relationship between moth, hummingbird and human. In essence, the photo essay makes an effort to relay the experience of a variety of insects outside the focalisation of humans.

The short film focuses on the sympathy gained from drawing connections between humans and insects through seemingly the mimicry of insects by humans. The construction of human communities bears resemblance to an ant colony in many ways. With a change in perception, an appreciation for insects connecting our existence to them even though we are arguably hindrance to their survival. We can find an awareness to them that’s not just expressed from an onomatopoeic buzz.

References
Grusin, Richard, editor. The Nonhuman Turn. University of Minnesota Press, 2015. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt13x1mj0.