teachings of the zombie ant fungi: on becoming a parasite to the systems that exploit us
zombie ant fungus fruiting from a leaf-attached, lifeless ant body (photo source: rezamonium/shutterstock)
i’m interested in the zombie ant fungi’s ability to overtake a system and use that system’s structure for its own purposes, in a way where the soul and life of that system cease to exist.* can you imagine if we could implement this technology with the exploitative structures that we live with/in?
within my worldview of everything being right where you need it when you need it, i believe even that which seems purposeless has some teaching to offer us — some wisdom kernels for which way to proceed or what else is possible. for the universe has created/is of all, and experience has shown me without fail that there is beauty in all of its faces. if i can’t see it, i need only shift my perspective. unimaginable pressure forms gemstones. terrifying volcanic eruptions reinvigorate the nutrients of the land. love and faith glisten in the face of crushing opposition. i’ve resolved to give myself to life completely while i’m here. the whole horrifying and delightful spectrum.
as part of a ritual for a course application on post-activism, i promised the zombie ant fungi to indulge focused time to follow 3 generations of their being and receive whatever learning i could. my interest in the zombie ant fungi is its ability to take over an existing system (ant) and manipulate its mechanisms and structure for the fungi's own purposes (life/continuation). [the fungi spores land on an ant, infiltrate its exoskeleton using enzymes, consume non-vital soft tissues once inside, release chemicals that interfere with the ants nervous system and control its behavior, direct the ant body up into the trees to secure itself by mandible death-grip, then proceeds to consume the lifeless ant body before busting out and releasing more spores to continue the cycle.] while their process may seem parasitic, i feel there is deep value in their efficiency for transforming of existing systems. nature is never without balancing forces.
in this knowledge-share ritual, what was reiterated again and again is the importance of the mechanism of distribution within a system. the fungi does not take the time to retrain each individual cell or working part of the ant. instead it infiltrates the central nervous system and uploads a new code… a new goal and purpose, a new consciousness.
part of what i find so interesting about the zombie ant fungi and its process is that it does not start from scratch. in my dreaming of transformation and worldbuilding systems that hold us and our society, I often jump ahead feeling as though we must build something completely anew. while it’s been clear to me that there is the need for the ability to utilize the detritus and compost of capitalism, supremacism and its descendants, I have been very wary of trying to make change from within these systems. I see so regularly those who desire deep change go within the belly of the beast, only to be co-opted, and shifted towards its own mission and ends. part of my draw to post-activism is the understanding that railing against a system using their tools and rules reiterates the same problems. as audre lorde said “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. (full quote below).
importantly, the zombie ant fungi only utilizes the ant’s body and system for so long as it needs. once the fungi has the vitality of a place to fruit, once the ant has attached securely to the place where it will reproduce, the structures and body of the ant are fully consumed by the fungi.
so if the mechanism of distribution is the key to the shift, what might that represent in the societal systems we occupy? for my context in the global north (colonized, capitalized, industrialized ‘modernity’), i see the mechanisms of distribution largely as (1) media: mass media (organized networks including news networks as well as popular entertainment media like movies, tv, and music), social media (masses of individuals sharing electronically with immediacy), indie media (distributed by small groups, individuals, communities), institutional media (distributed by education, political, and carceral systems) and (2) family/community structure: which largely revolves around the institutionally advantageous nuclear family (inclusive of the culture of individualism like bootstrap mentality, zero-sum thinking, us-versus-them mentality).
my vision for the end of white-supremacist patriarchal capitalism is death by obsoletion. i’m regularly reminded by narrative and experience that the building anew must begin from inside the burning building. so what kind of vitality and organizing do we need to foster in order to fortify us thru these changes? so that we are not overcome by the strength, power, and rootedness of trauma that these systems thrive on? what micro-moves can we make in our individual communities to shift reliance away from these systems? even tho they may be moves of the material the system created, what course corrections are possible now, that align us with where we want to go? the zombie ant fungi does not immediately kill the ant, it utilizes the ants body to climb trees to a safe height for reproduction…something that would not otherwise be possible for them in their existing state. how can our mechanisms of distribution be fortified and rooted enough so that we are not consumed by the ant before we reach the safety of the tree canopy?
i leave you these questions to mull with me.
have additional perspective on zombie ant fungi learnings? would love to hear from you <3
zombie ant fungus fruiting from ant body. (photo source: wikimedia commons // cc by-sa 2.0)
*zombie ant fungus scientific name is ophiocordyceps unilaterali. cordyceps are a broad category of parasitic fungi. only the sub-category ophiocordyceps control the host’s body.
“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See whose face it wears. Then the personal as the political can begin to illuminate all our choices.”
-audre lorde