Is microbial work the same as human work? Do other-than-human workers have rights and responsibilities? Does work need to be distinguished from labor, or idleness, or being out-of-order, or just hanging out? Bacteria and fungi do essential municipal and industrial jobs, from producing food and compost to cleaning up waste-water and squirrel droppings—and microbes are also now being engineered to help address a seemingly endless array of global sustainability challenges. When even the smallest and seemingly simplest creatures are being put to work, do we need to rethink human relationships with other living things?

In this seminar, we’ll take a problem-focused approach to more-than-human relationships in the context of cross-disciplinary efforts to build more sustainable futures. We’ll read about posthumanist ways of thinking that challenge the exclusionary “human” that has traditionally sat at the center of the humanities. We’ll explore alternatives that reconsider lines that separate and connect humans and other creatures. We’ll also read about contemporary biotechnologies, and ask how they may be changing not only other creatures, but what humans become through our relationships with them. Students should expect to read broadly, write experimentally, and practice independent and collaborative research skills.