Who are leeches? Exploring malleability in human-leech relations through ethnographies from Dagestan and Turkey.

IF 3.7 2区 医学 Q1 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Iwona Kaliszewska, Iwa Kołodziejska
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Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of "malleability" as a lens for understanding human interactions with writhing animals, using leech-human relations as a case study. Our research is based on ethnographic fieldwork among Dagestani healers in Dagestan and Turkey, 2019-2024. We argue that the malleability of leeches influences leeches' capacity for reversibility and shapes human-leech communication through their physical transformations and social roles. Through their flexible bodies, leeches enable nuanced, multisensory exchanges, influencing how humans interpret their actions-whether as cooperative, resistant, or purposeful behaviour. Malleability also mediates human sensory and emotional responses, evoking reactions ranging from disgust to admiration. Our findings reveal that leeches occupy a spectrum of roles in human perception and practice, serving as near-companions or ethical subjects, despite the lack of bioethical protections for their use in research, and as commodities or tools in medical contexts. Their physical and semantic malleability enables this fluid reversibility in human perceptions and practices. Methodologically, we advocate for "immersive duo-ethnography", which incorporates the researchers' bodily experiences as tools for examining non-verbal interactions between writhing animals and humans. This approach reveals significant entanglements at the sensory and cognitive levels, avoiding reliance on oversimplified metaphors about molecular or chemical processes when precise tracking of such mechanisms is unfeasible. By focusing on embodied relationships, our work highlights the complex interplay of physicality and meaning in human-other taxa interactions.

Abstract Image

Abstract Image

谁是水蛭?通过达吉斯坦和土耳其的民族志探索人类与水蛭关系的可塑性。
本文介绍了“可塑性”的概念,作为理解人类与扭动动物互动的一个镜头,并以水蛭与人类的关系为例进行了研究。我们的研究基于2019-2024年在达吉斯坦和土耳其的达吉斯坦治疗师中进行的民族志田野调查。我们认为,水蛭的可塑性影响了水蛭的可逆性能力,并通过它们的身体转变和社会角色塑造了人类与水蛭的交流。通过它们灵活的身体,水蛭能够进行细微的、多感官的交流,影响人类如何解释它们的行为——无论是合作、抵抗还是有目的的行为。可塑性还能调节人类的感官和情绪反应,引发从厌恶到钦佩的各种反应。我们的研究结果表明,水蛭在人类的感知和实践中扮演着一系列的角色,尽管在研究中使用水蛭缺乏生物伦理保护,但它们作为人类的亲密伴侣或伦理对象,在医学环境中作为商品或工具。它们在物理和语义上的延展性使人类的感知和实践具有这种流动的可逆性。在方法上,我们提倡“沉浸式双重人种学”,将研究人员的身体体验作为研究扭动动物和人类之间非语言互动的工具。这种方法揭示了在感觉和认知层面上的重大纠缠,避免了在无法精确跟踪这些机制时依赖于对分子或化学过程的过度简化的隐喻。通过关注具身关系,我们的工作突出了人类与其他类群相互作用中物质性和意义的复杂相互作用。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
7.30
自引率
16.70%
发文量
66
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine publishes original research focusing on cultural perceptions of nature and of human and animal health. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine invites research articles, reviews and commentaries concerning the investigations of the inextricable links between human societies and nature, food, and health. Specifically, the journal covers the following topics: ethnobotany, ethnomycology, ethnozoology, ethnoecology (including ethnopedology), ethnogastronomy, ethnomedicine, ethnoveterinary, as well as all related areas in environmental, nutritional, and medical anthropology. Research focusing on the implications that the inclusion of humanistic, cultural, and social dimensions have in understanding the biological word is also welcome, as well as its potential projections in public health-centred, nutritional, and environmental policies.
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