Open AccessQuarantine encounters with digital animals: More-than-human geographies of lockdown life
Author(s) -
Jonathon Turnbull,
Adam Searle,
William M. Adams
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of environmental media
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2632-2471
pISSN - 2632-2463
DOI - 10.1386/jem_00027_1
Subject(s) - avatar , scholarship , quarantine , human life , non human , covid-19 , environmental ethics , internet privacy , computer science , biology , political science , human–computer interaction , ecology , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , philosophy , humanity , disease , pathology
Quarantine conditions led to the proliferation of digital encounters with nonhuman animals. Here, we explore three prominent forms: creaturely cameos, avatar acquaintances and background birding. These virtual encounters afforded during lockdown life generated novel and affective human–animal relations that could have lasting effects for humans and nonhumans post-quarantine, posing interesting questions for more-than-human scholarship.