Tsing utilizes the matsutake mushroom as a representation of how individuals should approach and resolve economic and environmental issues in an age of economic decline. Tsing highlights the concepts of precarity, indeterminacy, collaboration, and contamination to understand how we can ultimately survive in such a state, and to revive the ruined industrial landscapes our society has created. For example, in her first chapter “The Arts of Noticing”, Tsing describes the nature of human disturbance and the extent of its strength. The “advent of modern capitalism” has inevitably led to the long-distance destruction of landscapes and ecologies. While we immerse ourselves in the familiar spaces of modernization and progress, we often overlook critical ideas and concepts present in our time.
Precarity and indeterminacy, for instance, are the “conditions of our time”; they unknowingly drive and transform us through unpredictable encounters. Despite this inconspicuous view, however, we tend to neglect such ideals, and seek progress. According to Tsing, precarity and indeterminacy are foreign concepts to us because progress and modernization are engrained in our minds and lives. Our “progress” is a “forward march” that ignores almost all other factors that lead to ruined economic and ecologic landscapes. To mitigate the negative impact of anthropogenic activities on nonhumans, collaboration is necessary between humans and nonhumans; collaborations are key to create multispecies worlds.
Tsing’s writing was interesting to read because it utilized an unconventional method to portray a larger concept. Tsing beautifully captures the importance of the matsutake mushroom while connecting the features of the mushroom to cultural phenomena such as post-industrial survival and environmental renewal. Tsing’s emphasis on bettering the environment was admirable, and different from what we have read from previous anthropologists. Tsing’s book is an example of how contemporary anthropology has extended its reach to different academic disciplines and fields.