We live in a time marked by ecological precarity and crisis. Critical scholars of the Anthropocene have identified extractivism and its associated ideology of human exceptionalism as driving forces behind these crises. This thesis joins a call to develop naturalcultural theory – ways of conceptualizing the more-than-human world and our place in it as humans that do not rely on longstanding distinctions between “Nature” and “Culture.” Moreover, scholars and activists have clearly outlined the urgent need for us to change the way we live with nonhumans. As a step towards such new ways of living with nonhumans, in this project I study how foragers foster multispecies ethics through their encounters with nonhumans, using multispecies ethnography as my primary methodology. In this thesis, I develop a theoretical framework through which to understand forager-plant interactions, informed by my experiences in the field interviewing and observing foragers as they harvest plants and directly studying the plants that my participants frequently interacted with. I tentatively propose a distinction between extractive and non-extractive approaches to foraging. Overall, I suggest viewing plants and humans as living-persons who are tangled in a field of socioecological relations to one another. Through partial and intermittent encounters, they become contaminated and adopt new habits that affect their future interactions with other living-persons. This has important implications for how we conceive of ethics as only incorporating nonhumans as objects of ethical consideration rather than ethical subjects in their own right.

Bakgrund: Humant Immunbrist Virus (HIV) är en infektionssjukdom som angriper kroppens immunförsvar vilket leder till att det stegvis försämras och slutligen helt avtar. Historiskt sett har patienter med HIV blivit diskriminerade i samhället och orättvist behandlade. Joyce Travelbee’s omvårdnadsteori tar avstånd från en generaliserande människosyn och förespråkar att se individens unika egenskaper, och sjukvårdspersonal ska enligt lag möta patienter med lika värde och lika vård oavsätt diagnos. Syftet är att beskriva erfarenheter som vuxna patienter med HIV har av möten med sjukvårdspersonal. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie. Arbetet utfördes genom en systematisk sökning  efter vetenskapliga artiklar i tre databaser där elva artiklar sedan kvalitetsbedömdes och analyserades. Resultat: Patienter med HIV hade övervägande positiva erfarenheter av mötet med sjukvårdspersonal, men negativa erfarenheter av till exempel obekväma blickar, överdrivna säkerhetsåtgärder, anklagelser och respektlöshet förekom i olika vårdsammanhang. Slutsats: Patienter med HIV ska aldrig behöva erfara diskriminerande möten med sjukvårdspersonal på grund av sin diagnos. Uppmärksammande av erfarenheter av möten med sjukvårdspersonal hos patienter med HIV kan öka medvetenheten angående stereotypa negativa beteenden och därmed förbättra deras vård och erfarenheter av mötet. Nyckelord: Patienter med HIV, sjukvårdspersonal, möten, mellanmänskliga relationer, erfarenheter. Keywords: Patients with HIV, healthcare personnell, interactions, human-to-human relationships, experience.

This work examines a relational ontology with the focus on our relationships with the more-than-human world. The aim is to investigate a subject that is more suitable to face the challenges of our times. Inspired by the posthumanistic project as presented by Rosi Braidotti I propose a non-anthropocentric reading of Martin Buber’s I and Thou. In the first section of the essay I present an overview of Buber’s understanding of the subject and I also answer the question whether we can consider the I-Thou relationship to include the non-human world. In part two I investigate the characteristics of such a relationship, covering as well the act of dialogue. This opens up for a new understanding of the subject as constituted by relationships including non-human others. As an example of how to protect living I-Thou relationships with non-human others through the I-It logic of law I present the case study of the river Wanganui in New Zealand and its newly acquired status as a subject by law. Finally I conclude by discussing a possible ethic where relational capacities are key.