To some extent in contemporary environmental philosophies, nonhuman natural entities are granted moral standing independent of human-centric interests. Human-created ‘objects’ or ‘things’ are overlooked in environmental ethics because of their mere ontological relationship with humans. Consider the character of archaeological artifacts. Artifacts are conceived and designed to meet the demands of human need and purpose, thus, they are fundamentally anthropocentric as their meanings derive from the concerns of human agents, either as individual personas or as social institutions. Ethical considerations of non-living considerations cannot go beyond the constraints of human function. In this sense, they are only seen as valuable for their cultural and historical significance. Al-Zubarah fort, as my case study, consistently undergoes site preservation, research, and community engagement to continue its human legacy as part of UNESCO world heritage. The Al-Zubarah’s importance for Qatari history demands a careful archaeological excavation to restore and protect parts of Qatar that flourished long ago. It is clear that preserving culture lies at the center of Qatar’s artifact archaeological efforts, and not because of its intrinsic values independent of cultural interests.
Jane Bennett, in her book Vibrant Matter, is challenging her readers to abandon their human-centric worldview, specifically where we conceive of there being inanimate matter (in my case, artifacts) and animated life (us) (a binary view that she posits is the dominant way of approaching our world), and asks us to understand things as complex “vibrant” (a term that she uses throughout her book) materials constantly interacting with one another in not fully determinate ways. By believing that matter has vitality and life no matter how lifeless it may appear to be, we promote more responsible, ethical human engagement with our world and ensure the long-term survival of the planet. This is Bennett’s theory of vital materialism. All physical materials have their own unique agentic capacity, trajectories, interactions, and potentialities outside of, and distinct from, human agency. Although this is a hard concept to grasp, as Bennett suggests, she points to the fact that all inanimate objects change over time. The only reason why Al-Zubarah requires preservation is to protect its coral walls against long-term erosion which shows that al-zubarah will not always stay in its original form. Quite simply, things act and groups of things act together because of their vibrant characteristic which renders them agency and intrinsic value beyond anthropocentric conceptions.
Obviously, I am not trying to alter non-invasive archaeological processes carried out in The Al-Zubarah but I am presenting the site as an intrinsically valuable object that requires preservation not because it serves cultural purposes, but just because it as a respected entity on its own. In Chapter 1, “The Force of Things,” Bennett develops the concept of thing-power. Thing-power is the agency of material objects to act and impact other materials, thereby producing effects in the world. Under such conditions, we stress on the agency of inanimate objects because they are able of interacting with its surrounding.
