ABSTRACT
What happens to geographic thought when the separation of humans from the natural world – a longstanding tenet of Western theory – is rejected? This chapter introduces more-than-human geography as a diverse yet linked set of responses to this question. It traces the intellectual roots and development of more-than-human thought within Anglophone geography, noting some important differences when compared to theories of posthumanism. Although more-than-human work is diverse, three shared concerns are identified. First, an interest in the power of nonhuman organisms and material things to shape worlds, alongside actions by human beings. Second, an assertion that knowledge is not universal but is situated in time and place and therefore that different forms of knowledge are possible, and that these might conflict. Third, a close attention to the relations and processes through which worlds come together. The singular, static, and timeless version of ‘Nature’ suggested in some accounts of Western science is rejected in favour of multiple different natures, as expressed in the concept of ‘multinaturalism’. It concludes with an overview of the structure of the book.
