Anabiosis and the liminal geographies of de/extinction

Searle, Adam

Abstract

The spectacle of de-extinction is often forward facing at the interface of science fiction and speculative fact, haunted by extinction’s pasts. Missing from this discourse, however, is a robust theorization of de-extinction in the present. This article presents recent developments in the emergent fields of resurrection biology and liminality to conceptualize the anabiotic (not living nor dead) state of de/extinction. Through two stories, this article explores the epistemological perturbation caused by the suspended animation of genetic material. Contrasting the genomic stories of the bucardo, a now extinct subspecies of Iberian ibex whose genome was preserved before the turn of the millennium, and the woolly mammoth, whose genome is still a work in progress, the author poses questions concerning the existential authenticity of this genomic anabiosis. They serve as archetypal illustrations of salvaged and synthesized anabiotic creatures. De/extinction is presented as a liminal state of being, both living and dead, both fact and fiction, a realm that we have growing access to through the proliferation of synthetic biology and cryopreservation. The article concludes through a presentation of anabiotic geographies, postulating on the changing biocultural significances we attach to organisms both extinct and extant, and considering their implications for the contemporary extinction crisis.

Citation

Searle, A. (2020). Anabiosis and the liminal geographies of de/extinction. Environmental Humanities, 12(1), 321-345. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-8142385

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jul 15, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2023
• Journal: Environmental Humanities
• Electronic ISSN: 2201-1919
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 321-345
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-8142385
• Keywords: Social Sciences (miscellaneous); Environmental Science (miscellaneous); Anthropology; Ecology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/22995595
• Publisher URL: https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/12/1/321/165253/Anabiosis-and-the-Liminal-Geographies-of-De