Fabulating Bog Girl: Queer Entanglements of Body and Land Histories in More-than-Human AutoFiction and Design

Research Background and Problem

• What problems or challenges did the author identify?
  The author identified that current design and technology, especially in the fields of medicine and agriculture, are often based on binary logic (e.g., gender, biological vs. non-biological, land vs. water). This logic leads to a lack of understanding, inclusivity, and empathy for non-binary entities (such as wetlands or non-binary individuals). This binary logic is materialized through technologies and tools, as evidenced by ecological damage to wetlands and medical treatment of non-binary bodies.

• Why is this problem important?
  The loss of wetlands has profound negative impacts on climate change, biodiversity, and environmental conservation. Similarly, medical technologies often lack targeted research and care for bodies that do not conform to binary gender logic, particularly non-binary or female bodies. These phenomena demonstrate that technologies and tools inherently carry implicit values and power structures, influencing the ethics and practices of design.

• Research Motivation and Related Work
  The motivation for this study stems from the researcher’s personal medical experiences as a non-binary individual and historical research on the transformation of Midwestern U.S. wetlands into agricultural land. Related work includes research in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) on "More-than-Human" (MTH) design, which aims to redesign by incorporating non-human factors (such as plants, non-living entities, and land) as design collaborators. This study seeks to add a non-binary gender perspective to existing HCI research on women’s health, agriculture, and ecology.

Solution

• What methods or solutions did the author propose?
  The author employed autofiction as a method, using a story titled Bog Girl to connect personal bodily experiences with the history of wetlands, constructing an entangled relationship between humans and non-humans. The story depicts the protagonist Tara's encounter, perception, and healing with the spirit of the wetland (Bog Girl), reexamining the relationship between bodies and land from a non-binary gender perspective.

• What is innovative about this solution?

  1. The author proposed autofiction as a novel MTH design method, providing HCI research with a more imaginative tool to explore entangled relationships.
  2. By introducing a non-binary gender perspective, the study expands the scope of MTH research, which has traditionally focused on women’s health.
  3. The study proposed a new ethical framework, including collective grief and healing, ecological complexity, equitable consent mechanisms, and support for non-binary ethics in design.

• What are the implementation steps and key techniques used?

  1. Background Research: The author conducted archival research and personal visits to the Kankakee wetlands in Indiana, reflecting on personal medical experiences and gender identity to form the story’s foundation.
  2. Story Creation and Iteration: With support from a short story writing course, the author refined the story's plot and details to more vividly illustrate the entanglement between land and body.
  3. Key Theories and Methods: The literary creation incorporated posthuman theories such as "Agential Cut," affective ecology, and academic research on wetlands and medicine.

Research Outcomes

• What specific outcomes were achieved?

  1. Proposed autofiction as a tool for producing design knowledge, demonstrating how storytelling can construct and explore relationships between humans and non-humans.
  2. Provided inspiration for ethical frameworks in designing interactions with non-human entities, such as supporting collective grief and healing between land and bodies.
  3. Contributed to the field of non-binary health research, showcasing how embedding gender diversity perspectives can benefit human health technologies and design.

• What advantages does this have compared to existing solutions?
  This study differs from traditional HCI research by redefining the boundaries of design and technology in a more emotionally resonant and imaginative way:

  1. The use of autofiction breaks through the limitations of existing technological systems, offering a productive and ethical design perspective.
  2. By incorporating a non-binary perspective, the study challenges the binary assumptions in traditional technology design for women’s health and agricultural technologies.

• What were the experimental or evaluation results?
  Although specific quantitative results from experiments or evaluations were not provided, the author claims that introducing concepts from novel writing (e.g., characters, plots, and metaphors) has significant inspirational value for design thinking. This further establishes the importance of personal experience and interdisciplinary narratives in HCI research.

• Limitations and Future Directions

  1. Limitations: The study is primarily based on the author’s individual experiences, which may limit its generalizability. Additionally, the implementation of the autofiction method lacks established norms within the discipline, and its reproducibility and reliability require further development.
  2. Future Directions: The author suggests future research could include collective storytelling, encompassing experiences of non-binary individuals from diverse backgrounds and their relationships with non-human entities. Additionally, the study mentions the potential for technology to support collective grief and ecological healing through specific tools or environments.

Conclusion

This paper uniquely integrates literature, autobiography, and human-computer interaction research, offering a novel methodological framework for exploring design and entanglements (particularly those involving non-humans and non-binary genders). It not only expands the possibilities of "More-than-Human" design in the HCI field but also critiques and reimagines the binary logic embedded in technological systems by introducing a non-binary perspective.