Matter, affect, life: A Whiteheadian intervention into ‘more-than-human’ geographies

Geographic theorisations of the ‘non-’ or ‘more-than-human’ continue to play a significant role in disrupting anthropocentrism within the humanities and social sciences. This article explores how Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy can contribute to geography's more-than-human aspirations, focussing on his radically non-anthropocentric theory of experience. Situating his work within geography's recent speculative turn, I unpack the implications of Whitehead's philosophy in relation to three key areas of concern in more-than-human geographies, namely new materialism, affect theory, and (neo-)vitalism. In doing so, I show how geographical critiques of anthropocentric thinking stand to gain from a deeper engagement with Whitehead's work.