Matterphorics of Life

This chapter critiques the binary life story embedded in legal, literary, and scientific thought, showing how proprietary and representational thinking sustain human exceptionalism within the Anthropocene’s narrative. It examines how law constructs life by enforcing distinctions between subject and property, shaping the conditions of existence. Drawing on Haraway, Latour, and Derrida, the chapter exposes how these distinctions determine whose lives are grievable, whose habitats are expendable, and whose existence remains unthinkable. Through a matterphorical reading, it reveals the exclusions enacted by legal subjectivity and explores alternative ways of understanding legal concepts. Ultimately, it demonstrates how matterphorics can unsettle anthropocentric frameworks and reimagine legal and literary storytelling beyond colonial and extractive paradigms.