A Shared Field of Semiosis: Multispecies Entanglements and the More-than-Human World of Manchar Lake, Pakistan

Abstract

This paper examines the Manchar Lake as a semiotic ecology in which humans, nonhumans, and non-living elements are entangled in the making of life, survival, and predation. Drawing Eduardo Kohn’s (2013), and Terrence Deacon’s (2012) the objective of the paper is to take biosemiotics beyond forests to show how rivers and lakes and being inhabiting them communicate meaning through semiosis. This paper is based on one year of ethnographic work – participant observation with the lake and conducting semi-structured interviews the fishing community of the lake. The results show that beings of the lake rely on various ecological cues to survive, avoid danger, and respond to predators. This creates a shared field of semiosis in which signs are central to both survival and exploitation. The paper challenges human-centered understandings of meaning and concludes that the lake should be understood as an emergent semiotic assemblage in which humans, nonhumans, and nonliving forces are mutually implicated in the ongoing production of meaning, movement, and life. This paper recommends going beyond human understanding the life of the lake.