The idea of non-human objects speaking has an illustrious pedigree. Using Holbraad’s (2011) question ‘can the thing speak?’ as a springboard, the author asks what it means to say that tobacco might speak. Accepting a degree of ventriloquism in giving a voice to plants, he tracks examples of tobacco (and its paraphernalia) speaking in English literary sources, demonstrating that the postmodern turn to ‘material agency’ and object sentiency, voice and intentionality is, in fact, nothing new. Taking Miller and Latour’s conceptions of hybridity in human/non-human relationships seriously, he argues further that tobacco can speak, or remain silent, through a number of different human and corporate locutors. Where tobacco speaks in its own words, its voice – in contrast to the ‘tinny but usable’ voice of a mushroom spore – becomes that of an imperious autocrat intent on world domination.

中文翻译：

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植物会说话吗？给烟草应有的声音

非人类物体说话的想法具有杰出的血统。使用Holbraad（2011）的问题“事情会说话吗？” 作为跳板，作者问说烟草可能会说话是什么意思。他接受某种程度的口语表达，向植物发出声音，他追踪了英语文学来源中说话的烟草（及其用具）的例子，表明事实上，后现代转向“物质代理”和客体情感，声音和意向性，没什么新鲜的。他严肃地考虑了米勒和拉图尔在人与非人之间关系中的杂交概念，他进一步辩称，烟草可以通过许多不同的人类和公司对话者说话或保持沉默。烟草用自己的语言说话时