Religence: conceptualising posthuman religion

Scott, Michael W. ORCID: 0000-0002-2301-6924 (2024) Religence: conceptualising posthuman religion. Social Anthropology, 32 (2). 93 - 111. ISSN 1469-8676

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Abstract

In this article I contribute to posthuman anthropology by developing two lines of thought. I first suggest that the post-Cartesian ontology integral to posthumanism accommodates a new scientifically informed version of negative theology. I then explore how this new negative theology implies a posthuman religion. By analysing Michel Serres’s reconceptualisation of religion as the opposite of negligence and engaging with efforts to build on this thought by Tim Ingold and Bruno Latour, I develop a theory of posthuman religion I call religence. With the innovation of this term, I bring posthuman religion into view and, to show how religence may be approached anthropologically, I draw on Anna Tsing’s ‘critical description’ of the interdependence between Tricholoma fungi and pine trees. Religence, I conclude, is best understood not as a single pervasive and unchanging mode of relating that can eliminate negligence, but as a plurality of provisional and shifting religence–negligence complexes.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/saa...
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author
Divisions:	Anthropology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Date Deposited:	05 Feb 2024 15:18
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:02
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/121655

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