"If We Were Fiction: Insect-Human Stories" by Isabella Delaney
 

Home Institution

Gustavus Adolphus College

Publication Date

Fall 2023

Program Name

Nepal: Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples

Abstract

This creative project delves into the nonlinear, interconnected web of insect-human relations in Nepal. Through exploring humans’ perceptions and stories of insects, this work intends to remedy the limits of traditional entomological knowledge, which forgets the ubiquitous reality of insects as more than biological and ecological agents. Insects are social, economic, and ethical “characters” in our lives, and recognizing this opens up possibilities for connection, hope, and evolution in this world. The potential of the mundane, the forgettable, pulses within humans’ unique attitudes toward insects and the forces that shaped them. This potential is represented in the final product of this project: a children’s book titled Knowing Karma, the story of a shape-shifting, open-minded insect. By synthesizing qualitative interviews conducted in Pokhara and Beni, two areas of Nepal, and theories of understanding human relations with insects and the environment, such as multispecies justice, Knowing Karma illuminates fractals of insect-human relations.

Disciplines

Asian Studies | Book and Paper | Creative Writing | Entomology | Human Ecology | Illustration

Share

Article Location

 
COinS
 
 
 
BESbswy
BESbswy