Rethinking Fables in the Age of Global Environmental Crisis

全球环境危机时代重新思考寓言

• 批准号: AH/X004368/1
• 负责人: Kaori Nagai
• 金额: $ 3.08万
• 依托单位: University of Kent
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FX004368%2F1
• 关键词: Rethinking; Fables; Age; Global; Environmental

The fable is a literary genre characterised by its unique focus on nonhumans: in a fable, animals, other organisms, and even non-living forms take centre stage to tell their stories. It has a long global history and has played a significant role in shaping human cultures and ways of thinking; we live with a multitude of talking and humanised creatures, which have inhabited and enriched our languages and cultural imagination. Despite, and because of, this, fables have been controversial and often highly criticised as a mode of representing nonhuman worlds. They have been seen as false representations of nature, or even as the embodiment of our anthropocentric attitude, which leads us to use nonhumans to tell human stories. Recently, however, there has been an increased appreciation of the fable as an important cultural form to re-evaluate our relations with nonhumans. Fables crucially offer a unique means of addressing current challenges to human-centred ways of thinking, while being knowledgeable about the risks of anthropomorphising nonhumans. Moreover, Aesop's fable, 'The Crow and the Pitcher,' has been used by scientists as a framework for their experiments. This use of a fable as a scientific paradigm is not without its critics, but it supports the idea that the fable is a biocultural form, shaped by our observations of, and interactions with, other species. 'Rethinking Fables in the Age of Global Environmental Crisis' aims to bring together scholars, animal experts, artists, theorists, and practitioners of the fable, to examine the importance of animal (and other nonhuman) fables. The team includes leading scholars of the fable, and collaboratively we will work towards developing new theories and practices of the genre. The project will adopt innovative and critical approaches to the subject to foster lively discussions and interdisciplinary collaborations, not only within the arts and humanities but also with social and natural sciences. It will engage with a wide range of texts (literary works, scientific discourses, archival materials) and cultural practices (art, theatre, media, anthropology, etc) as 'fables'. We will also collaborate to produce new fables, befitting to tell stories of our times, in collaboration with artists, creative writers and animal experts. At the same time, we will celebrate the richness of the fable tradition as world literature by drawing on fables of different cultural and linguistic traditions, including non-European and indigenous fables, alongside new and innovative fables. At the heart of this project is the appreciation of the fable as an art of multispecies storytelling, associated with political, moral, and educational values: the fable typically comes with a moral of the story, which teaches us to be better humans. We will draw on the power of the fable as a versatile tool and important resource, which can help us to think differently about pressing global issues and the environmental, political, and technological challenges we face. By engaging critically and creatively with the fable, we seek to evaluate the nature of our relationship with other species, including exploitation, domestication, and cooperation, and to learn to be a better fellow species. This project will develop an interdisciplinary network through a series of workshops and a conference. Our discussions, key findings, and experimental 'fables' will provide the basis for a multimedia interactive online exhibition about the fable genre, which will be richly illustrated with images of fable manuscripts, visual arts, museum objects, animal photos, etc. Some of the pages will be dedicated to addressing the global environmental crisis and other contemporary challenges, explored through multispecies engagements with fables. This project will generate a series of fable-themed podcasts and a co-edited essay collection. The concluding conference will be accompanied by a public storytelling event in Canterbury.

寓言是一种文学体裁，其特点是对非人类的独特关注：在寓言中，动物，其他有机体，甚至非生命形式占据中心舞台讲述他们的故事。它有着悠久的全球历史，在塑造人类文化和思维方式方面发挥了重要作用;我们生活在众多会说话和人性化的生物中，它们居住并丰富了我们的语言和文化想象力。尽管如此，也正因为如此，寓言作为一种表现非人类世界的方式一直备受争议，并经常受到高度批评。它们被视为对自然的错误表征，甚至被视为我们以人为本态度的体现，这导致我们使用非人类来讲述人类的故事。然而，最近，人们越来越重视寓言作为一种重要的文化形式，以重新评估我们与非人类的关系。寓言至关重要地提供了一种独特的手段来应对当前以人为本的思维方式所面临的挑战，同时了解将非人类拟人化的风险。此外，伊索寓言《乌鸦和水罐》也被科学家用作实验的框架。这种将寓言作为科学范式的做法并非没有批评者，但它支持了这样一种观点，即寓言是一种生物文化形式，是由我们对其他物种的观察以及与其他物种的互动所塑造的。 “在全球环境危机时代重新思考寓言”旨在汇集学者，动物专家，艺术家，理论家和寓言的实践者，研究动物（和其他非人类）寓言的重要性。该团队包括寓言的主要学者，我们将共同努力开发新的理论和实践。该项目将采用创新和批判性的方法来处理这一问题，以促进活跃的讨论和跨学科合作，不仅在艺术和人文领域，而且在社会和自然科学领域。它将涉及广泛的文本（文学作品，科学话语，档案材料）和文化实践（艺术，戏剧，媒体，人类学等）作为“寓言”。我们还将与艺术家、创意作家和动物专家合作，制作新的寓言，适合讲述我们这个时代的故事。与此同时，我们将通过借鉴不同文化和语言传统的寓言，包括非欧洲和土著寓言，以及新的和创新的寓言，来庆祝寓言传统作为世界文学的丰富性。这个项目的核心是欣赏寓言作为一种多物种讲故事的艺术，与政治，道德和教育价值观相关：寓言通常带有故事的寓意，它教导我们成为更好的人。我们将利用寓言的力量作为一种多功能工具和重要资源，它可以帮助我们以不同的方式思考紧迫的全球问题以及我们面临的环境，政治和技术挑战。通过批判性和创造性地参与寓言，我们寻求评估我们与其他物种的关系的性质，包括剥削，驯化和合作，并学会成为一个更好的物种。 该项目将通过一系列讲习班和一次会议建立一个跨学科网络。我们的讨论，主要发现和实验“寓言”将提供一个多媒体互动的寓言类型，这将是丰富的说明与寓言手稿，视觉艺术，博物馆的对象，动物照片等的一些网页将致力于解决全球环境危机和其他当代挑战的图像在线展览的基础上，探索通过多物种参与寓言。这个项目将产生一系列以寓言为主题的播客和一个共同编辑的散文集。闭幕式会议将伴随着在坎特伯雷举行的公开讲故事活动。