Relationality In Fuentes Work

A reoccurring idea in Fuentes’ work is niche construction, which is “the building, modifying, and altering of ecological niches and the concomitant pressures that play back on organisms” (Fuentes). The term niche has an extensive background in the sciences, especially biology, used to describe the particular role of an organism in the ecosystem. As defined by Fuentes, it is “the dynamic N-dimensional space that an organism lives in and creates interactively with multiple other species” (Fuentes). This particular definition of niche can be “a theoretical tool for explaining what social entities are and do” and helps with the “understanding [of] the interactions of organisms within mutual ecologies” (Fuentes). This is directly related to Donna Haraway’s notion of relationality.

In this case, relationality is coined as natureculture which is used to “reflect upon a particular multispecies interface [relation]… in which the two species are simultaneously actors and participants in sharing and shaping mutual ecologies” (Fuentes). For the case of Bali, Indonesia, macaque monkeys and humans coexist in a relation where both species are mutually benefitted. This is what the companion species (species that interact, and impact each other) relation is. Furthermore, the example of the macaque monkeys and humans seem to fade the concept of the species barrier, where each species is categorized in an “us” vs “them” category based on visible differences. These categories often distance “us” from “them,” resulting in unequal statuses of the species in a relation. By heavily interacting with humans, macaque monkeys have in turn intersected through the species barrier and in certain aspects became ‘one’ with