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

Abstract

This research applies atransdisciplinaryand transnational approach between visual artists, anthrozoologists, and biological scientistst op roblematize the acclaimed status of civet coffee, both its methods of production and authentication. Firstly, attempting to gain an embodied perspectiveofanimal mechanization, we used our own bodies to 'become with' our civet informants. By adheringt ot he samep rocedure as civet coffee production, we created 80 gofhuman-digested coffee. Secondly, we followed ascientific protocolutilized for civet coffee authentication, in which we examineds amples of our product using scanning electron microscopy, the results of which we then comparedt op reviously published findings for civet coffee. Our results illustrate the complexities involved in multispecies world making whilst highlighting the significante thical issues surrounding digestedcoffee production and the flawed process of authentication.