In our shared human Umwelt[1] there is an ecological relevance for us to recognize the centrality of race as a significant relational and social factor and dynamism that shapes the lived experience and chance of survival for Blacks and other people of color. The context in which we experience the world is important and for us humans the artificial construct of race, besides other defining social attributes such as gender, class, sexual orientation, immigration status etc. determines our ability to live and survive as well as the quality of our lives. Thus, race is ecologically relevant for us humans and requires our attention and care. We need to reckon with our shared responsibilities towards our fellow humans we have marginalized and exploited. We need to cultivate our kinship across differences and diversity, engage in meaningful relationships and dialogues, deploy solidarity, and provide reconciliation and reparations.
But we share our world with many other-than-human worlds and many don’t include us at all. Humans are not the only game in town. We need to acknowledge that there are numerous overlapping worlds with which we are more or less entangled. We need to move beyond Enlightenment and resulting scientific beliefs that there is a singular framework for objectively interpreting the world. This one world or universe fallacy contributed to the dominance of the global north and within its societies the consolidation of power among dominant groups. The imposition of a unified interpretation of the world and of finding truth and meaning in a single world by a minority of white men in power is behind the great malaise of our age: the marginalization of so many of our fellow humans and of the more-than-human space and experience. White supremacy is closely linked to human supremacy. It has led to where we stand today at the precipice of human extinction and social upheavals. But in truth, there are so many worlds. Our world is one of many worlds. The multiplicity of worlds, the pluriverses, the many umwelts intersect with each other to varying degrees and the fact that we share many aspects of them, that we feel the same sun and breathe the same air, that we exist together allows for a new solidarity with the more-than-human world.
To engage with the many more than human contexts and umwelts, we need to decenter ourselves as humans and develop more respect for other forms of ecological relevances, intelligences and mindedness. Rock cress plants hear approaching caterpillars that feed on them (even though they don’t have any receptors for sound waves) and then react by flooding their leaves with chemical defenses intended to ward off the predators. Some mimosa plants are very sensitive to touch and recoil. Extraordinarily they also learn from experience and remember. When they are exposed to repetitive harmless threats, they stop rolling up their leaves and are able to retain that new knowledge over time. Plants can feel, hear, learn, remember, and change their behavior in response to their world.
As we engage with the pluriverses of the more-than-human worlds around us our minds change, we are changed. Our perception and understanding of the world changes from seeing only objects to experiencing animated subjects. With the new revelations of plant subjectivity, agency and mindedness the degree of separation between us and the world shrinks. The multiplicity and entanglement of worlds and umwelts gives space for new sensibilities, relationships and ethics of engagement. We are embedded in a spirited more-than-human world. For us humans, cultural imaginations and social arrangements are part of our umwelt, both beautiful and devastating. The way we live them is ecologically relevant to us and to our fellow more-than-human beings. It will determine the healthspan and lifespan of all of us.
[1] Umwelt is a term that the German biologist Jakob von Uexküll used to describe how living beings perceive their environment(s) and experience their lives in species-specific subjective reference frames.