Ferality is a foundational concept in your research. It expresses ‘nonhuman beings engaged with human projects’ and ‘human infrastructures but outside human control.’ . . . Ferality also refers to the harmful impact of human infrastructures on the environment; notwithstanding simplifications, how do we understand what qualifies as either negative or positive from an environmental and non-anthropocentric perspective?
Feral stands beyond the conventional ‘domestic vs. wild’ dichotomy, which is still human-centric. Generally, people understand ‘feral’ as lying within the ‘wild’ category that has nothing to do with humans, whereas ‘domestic’ is completely human-controlled. Still, what ferality engages, as you said, is about being developed beyond human control. Understanding that the feral effects are undesigned is the key. . .That our infrastructural systems encourage and facilitate the emergence and spread of feral ecologies — in ways humans did not intend — is crucial to comprehending why they remain uncontrollable and resistant to human intervention. Ferality does not point only to the negative or harmful impact; ferality can be good, in a subjective sense. . . .
Instead, we’re pointing to these processes in which ferality is produced, and looking at what kinds of proliferations, species declines, and ecological ruptures result from the undesigned consequences of Imperial and industrial projects.
So what?
One precious thing about [our digital research publication] Feral Atlas is the way that images, art and poetry were woven into the analysis. I think of Feral Atlas as an intermedial analytic performance, and for me that’s a great strength. An intermedial approach to knowledge creation curates and orchestrates different forms of empirical description and expression, without forcing them into a homogenous narrative or form. . . .
From a personal point of view, I find there is great value in such methods; particularly in terms of a question that is never far from my mind these days, namely ‘How are we to live’? Before we started Feral Atlas, the terror of ecological danger often overwhelmed me to the point of intellectual and social paralysis. As a result of working on this project, alongside so many others who are similarly terrified, I find myself better able to get on with life, mobilised by being part of a broader creative, critical and transdisciplinary engaged community of open-eyed concern.
https://www.koozarch.com/interviews/on-ferality-patches-and-infrastructures
WHEN COMPLEX IS AS SIMPLE AS IT GETS 