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Technologies, Bodies and Faecal Matters: Embodied Empathy with Coffee Producing Civets

2022/11/14 by Jes Hooper, Meri Linna, Saija Kassinen +1 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Culinary Culture and Tourism

paper · doi:10.14220/trns.2022.1.2.73

openalex publication_date 2022/11/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14

Abstract

This research applies a transdisciplinary and transnational approach between visual artists, anthrozoologists, and biological scientists to problematize the acclaimed status of civet coffee, both its methods of production and authentication. Firstly, attempting to gain an embodied perspective of animal mechanization, we used our own bodies to ‘become with’ our civet informants. By adhering to the same procedure as civet coffee production, we created 80 g of human-digested coffee. Secondly, we followed a scientific protocol utilized for civet coffee authentication, in which we examined samples of our product using scanning electron microscopy, the results of which we then compared to previously published findings for civet coffee. Our results illustrate the complexities involved in multispecies world making whilst highlighting the significant ethical issues surrounding digested coffee production and the flawed process of authentication.

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