Приключения плезиозавра и мамонта: как действуют доисторические животные в гетерогенных сетях

Abstract

The article considers two episodes from the history of paleontology in the 18th to 19th centuries, where the main characters are the plesiosaurus (Plesiosaurus microcephalus) and the mammoth (Mammut americanum),the latter of which later turned out to be a mastodon. These creatures were able to manifestthemselves as actors despite being extinctforthousands of years. Their actions are traced through their influences on the identities of other actors, be they individuals or entire nations. The plesiosaurus helpsits discoverer Mary Anning defend herrightsto do science and to earn a living for herself and herfamily in the patriarchalsociety of England in the first half ofthe 19th century, while the mammoth-mastodon is engaged as an ally by Thomas Jefferson in strengthening the position ofthe young American nation. The range of interactions our heroes are involved in is heterogeneous: it includes not only the scientific sphere but also public policy, social and genderrelations. The analysis ofthese casesis based on the methodological apparatus of actor-network theory (ANT), which makesit possible to escape the dichotomies of "living/nonliving", "human/non-human" that hide the agency of objects from the observer. By avoiding these dichotomies it becomes possible to conduct unbiased research of different heterogeneous entities on equal footing.