Abstract

NINO-RODRIGUEZ, Nelsy; CEDENO GRACIA, Nathalí  and  DEL CAIRO, Carlos Luis. ‘Entangle’ among Mist Nets: Reflections of a Graphic-Narrative Strategy around Collecting, Collectors, and Bird Skins. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2021, n.42, pp.233-261. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda42.2021.10.

Ornithological collections are nourished by the specimens obtained from the practice of collecting birds. A field that, far from being homogeneous, embodies multiple singularities from the experience of those who conduct it: the collectors. This essay explores and reflects on the interdisciplinary process that originated the illustrations, a graphic-narrative strategy that communicates the multiple associations surrounding this practice with creative flexibility. Skins are the most visible materiality resulting from the collecting process and are inscribed in the classification logics that organize the collections of which they are part. However, skins are associated with another materiality -the labels- which instead of being marginal and subordinate to the skins, define them and are defined in that relationship. By thinking of skins, labels, collectors, collecting, and collections as part of a network that links human and non-human actors, we claim ‘entanglement’ as a descriptive and analytical possibility that emerges from the metaphorical approach to the mist nets -essential in the practice of collecting-. The illustrations represent partial aspects of these networks, and with this, they can permeate the imperviousness that usually surrounds this practice in non-specialized circles.

Keywords : Anthropology; interdisciplinarity; nature-culture; ornithology; textual-visual narrative.

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