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Paper short abstract

This talk critiques more-than-human approaches in STS, arguing they remain grounded in human interpretation. It proposes a “return to the human” through people-focused multispecies research examining how humans engage with non-human worlds.

Paper long abstract

In recent years, science and technology studies (STS) and related fields have shown growing interest in the “more-than-human,” reflected in approaches such as multispecies ethnography, the ontological turn, new materialism, and Anthropocene scholarship. These perspectives aim to decenter humans and foreground the agency of non-human entities—animals, plants, technologies, and environments—in social life. While these approaches have generated important insights, this talk critically examines their epistemological promises and ethical implications.

Drawing on debates in STS and anthropology, I argue that attempts to produce symmetrical analyses of humans and non-humans often remain grounded in human interpretation and representation. Despite claims of moving “beyond the human,” ethnographic research still relies on human categories, experiences, and narratives to describe non-human worlds. This creates a tension between the theoretical ambition to grant equal analytical status to non-humans and the practical limits of ethnographic methods.

Rather than attempting to fully transcend the human perspective, I propose a more modest and ethically grounded approach: returning analytically “back to the human.” This does not mean ignoring non-human actors. On the contrary, it means examining how human interpret, engage with, and act toward non-human beings and environments. By emphasizing clarity, ethnographic richness, and ethical responsibility, I argue for “people-focused” multispecies research. This perspective keeps human practices and power relations at the center while still taking seriously the entanglements that shape life in the Anthropocene.