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How to Become a Mushroom: A New Nature Ethnography of Fungi in Aotearoa

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thesis
posted on 2023-09-25, 02:09 authored by Nicholls, Alice

This thesis proposes that the moment of interaction between a person and a fungus is transformative of both subjects. Using new nature writing techniques in tandem with multispecies ethnography, this thesis seeks to present a rich, autoethnographic account of my encounters with fungi in the native forests of the West Coast of Aotearoa. Drawing on five days of ethnographic fieldwork spent at the Fungal Network of New Zealand (FUNNZ) annual Fungal Foray in the township of Moana, I explore the affective, emotional, sensory, intellectual, and corporeal experiences of interacting with fungi. Using new nature writing as an ethnographic medium, I suggest that narratives that pertain to the researcher’s experiences can render new understandings of nonhuman subjects. In doing so, I explore both the transformative potential of multispecies encounters for the researcher and the researched, and the literary potential of multispecies ethnography to illustrate the encounters themselves.

History

Copyright Date

2019-01-01

Date of Award

2019-01-01

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

CC BY-SA 4.0

Degree Discipline

Cultural Anthropology

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Arts

ANZSRC Type Of Activity code

4 EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Awarded Research Masters Thesis

Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

School of Social and Cultural Studies

Advisors

Otsuki, Grant; Sissons, Jeff