This ethnography is about innerconnectedness of humans and insects around the world. This ethnography takes a unique approach by giving a account of A-Z human and insect relations. The author puts sciences and history in conversations with human and insect relations.
The design of the text is much like an excyclopedia, A-Z. The are descriptions such as scientific research projects that follow with each new letter. There is also history interweaved throughout the text such as the chapter called, "Jews: that discusses how the Nazi regime employed the metaphor of insect.
There is an image of a grasshopper on the fron cover. The grasshoppper appears to be looking directly at the viewer. It somewhat made me feel like the animal knows me. There is also an ant crawling. Under the insects is a an edorsement(?) from The New York Times. It draws in the reader.
I was most interested in the sketch's description of the structure of the ethnography. As Raymond mentioned, the A-Z Insectpedia structure "mocks the ieda that there can be any complete account of A-Z human insect relations." The ethnography documents several stories from people around the world interacting with insects.
This sketch gives me a clear idea of what this ethnography is about such as who are the main actors and notes that positionality is not addressed. I would like to know what an example of what the text had to say that was not so obvious. This sketch proposed that this ethnography could be a museum exhibit or educational activity for young children.
The text is set up as an A-Z compendium of human-insect relations. The chapter lengths vary, from just a few pages to over a dozen. The text does ask for other ways of reading. It does not have to be read sequentially, but can be read in any order. The layout performs an argument that it is impossible to capture the depth and breadth of human-insect relations in a modernist form like the encyclopedia, as the A-Z structure breaks down the further into the alphabet that you go.
The text is a PhD dissertation and does not include a cover
The ethography describes the everyday practices of intentional communities and ecovillages in Western North Carolina, which the author augues produced a cultural critique towards current socioeconomic institutions
Theoretical foundation follows research background introduction, then moves into empirical evidences while constantly connect back to theory
Santiago writes "It (the ethnograhy) introduces the challenge of sustainability and provides context that legitimate the relevance of utopian projects to the modern world". In answering the question "how is the critism of the text performed", Santiago adds there are different scholarly views toward Utopianism. The author presents it"as a transformation according to contemporary values rather than a failure...it presents the modern world as opposed to the object of analysis, to the ethos of the intentional communities".
