Symbiogenesis A Reading Circle held online on Sunday 28.11.2021 > 2 PM (CEST)
Introductory text: Friend and antagonist of Donna Haraway, the biologist and evolutionary theorist Lynn Margulis proposed the term 'symbiogenesis' to emphasize the importance of understanding the emergence of life-forms as always already richly embedded, genetic in a context of other life. In other words, there are extensive and indistinct co-dependencies in all life forms such that they can not be meaningfully understood as abstract species or individual beings. In this circle we will take a deep dive into Margulis' work and thinking, especially Haraway's responses to the concepts of symbiogenesis and the 'Gaia Hypothesis' she developed with chemist and cybernetician James Lovelock.
Preparatory readings: Lynn Margulis Interview Symbiogenesis: Beyond the endosymbiosis theory? Duur K. Aanena & Paul Eggleton Endosymbiosis and its implications for evolutionary theory - Maureen A. O’Malley
We read during the circle: SF: Science Fiction, Speculative Fabulation, String Figures, So Far