The articles in the January 2021 issue examine often neglected bits of the natural world: insects and weeds. Easy to take for granted, the miniature actors in the articles by Diogo de Carvalho Cabral, Jennifer Bonnell, and Benjamin Siegel demonstrate how small and unwanted things can very much shape the settings in which human history unfolded. The kans grass discussed by Siegel preoccupied agronomists in India and helped to legitimate their statist ambitions. The bees at the center of Bonnell’s narrative would not be seen as pests today, but her human actors very much debated whether they deserved protection and how strong those protections should be. And the ants in Cabral’s article coordinated with one another, actively remade the natural environment to suit their needs, and posed such a threat to agriculture that humans chose to take aggressive action against them. In every case, weedy species defied human plans, compelled conversations about the best response, and forced people to consider and negotiate the proper relationship between humans and the nonhuman world.

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编者注

2021年1月号的文章研究了自然界中经常被忽视的部分：昆虫和杂草。Diogo de Carvalho Cabral，Jennifer Bonnell和Benjamin Siegel的文章中的微型演员很容易理所当然地展示出，微小和不需要的东西会如何极大地塑造人类历史的发展背景。西格尔（Siegel）讨论的坎克斯草丛集中了印度的农学家，并帮助使他们的国家主义野心合法化。如今，在邦纳尔故事中心的蜜蜂不会被视为害虫，但她的人类演员却在激烈辩论是否应得到保护以及这些保护的强度。Cabral文章中的蚂蚁相互协调，积极地改造了自然环境以满足他们的需求，并对农业构成威胁，人类选择对他们采取积极行动。在每种情况下，杂草物种都违背了人类计划，迫使人们就最佳反应进行对话，并迫使人们考虑并谈判人类与非人类世界之间的适当关系。