In this talk, Maya Hey introduces her forthcoming monograph on fermentation, where she theorizes human-microbe relations now and in the future. Microbes are everywhere, shaping our bodies and environments in ways that challenge what it means to be ‘human’ on a highly microbial planet. By focusing on the process of making ferments—rather than the outcomes—Hey explores the hands- on, material practices that help shape possible futures.

Based on ethnography at a natural sake brewery in Japan and grounded in feminist theory, Ongoing Song examines the brewing process—its tools, rituals, seasonality, and know-how—to highlight more-than-human entanglements. This brewery doesn’t add lab-grown microbes; instead, brewers create conditions for ambient microbes to gather—specific ones, at specific times, in specific sequences. They must constantly adapt, practicing what Hey calls an improvisational ethic: a way of responding to the unforeseen. She concludes by asking: what kinds of futures do we want to improvise with microbes?