Workshop Convened by Matt Chrulew
The international collaborative workshop - The History, Philosophy and Future of Ethology – was held 19-21 February 2011 (workshop programme).
It was funded by the International Science Linkages – Humanities and
Creative Arts Programme, with additional funding provided by the Centre
for Research on Social Inclusion. It was an event of CRSI‘s Animals
& Society Working Group, which had previously hosted a masterclass
and lecture by Marc Bekoff in November 2010, and has become a
significant new contribution to the Ecological Humanities at Macquarie.
The February workshop was an intensive, intimate three day discussion
that brought together a range of guests from various disciplinary
backgrounds. Growing out of a panel on Ethology and Continental
Philosophy at the Minding Animals conference in Newcastle, 2009, it
further developed the conversation at this border, as well as engaging
with other related disciplines – including neuroscience, anthropology,
sociology, film-making, Egyptology, zoömusicology and literary studies.
French
philosopher and ethologist Dominique Lestel gave the opening address.
He contrasted what he called the Cartesian-realist and
bi-constructivist paradigms, arguing that ethology can become a
subversive science in contemporary western thought by jettisoning the
aspiration to be the objective science of bête-machines and instead
taking account of meaning-making by innovative animal subjects. In the
next session, Linda Evans conveyed her research on animal
representations in Egyptian art, and how attention to behaviour (rather
than just visual form) significantly aids in its interpretation.
Zoömusicologist Hollis Taylor evoked and mused on her fieldwork with
pied butcher birds and their remarkable singing. Lesley Rogers
complemented the philosophical critique of human exceptionalism with
neurological evidence of brain lateralisation in animals (a trait
recently thought to be unique to or stronger in humans). Norwegian
biosemiotician Morten Tønnessen illustrated his use and development of
Jakob von Uexküll‘s Umwelt theory to understand contemporary wolf
management. The day concluded with a magical violin performance by
Hollis Taylor, accompanied by field recordings of songbirds and their
milieu.
The second day opened with New York sociologist
Jeffrey Bussolini‘s presentation of his ethnographic research on urban
human-feline cohabitation. Continuing the previous day‘s challenge to
human exceptionalism, Bussolini refuted Paul Rozin’s strange yet
telling hypothesis that humans are the only animals to eat chile
peppers. Karola Stotz detailed the importance of development in
understanding animal behaviour, prompting a robust exchange regarding
the limits of biological explanation. Gisela Kaplan took the example of
magpies to explain the importance of learning and development in
conservation efforts, articulating a scientifically informed ethics of
care to combat the widespread stress and trauma associated with human
intervention and habitat destruction. In the afternoon, Natasha Fijn
showed some of her video footage which combines and reinvents the
differing visual conventions traditionally used to represent humans and
wildlife. One film made in collaboration with Deborah Rose portrayed
practices of care for endangered flying foxes who are treated as pests
and harassed out of their breeding grounds. Deborah Rose’s paper took
up the challenge of witnessing to the narrativity of animal lives,
inviting us to rethink the centrality of the hand or paw, and to
consider the communicative and time-binding possibilities of the
tongue. The final session expanded these threads with a roundtable
discussion of different methodological techniques opening up at the
borders of the human and natural sciences such as ethno-ethology and
multispecies ethnography.
The discussions of the third day
focussed in on literary and philosophical questions. American
philosopher Gary Steiner explored the value of postmodern philosophy
for understanding animal experience. He argued that while the critique
of scientific reason in thinkers such as Heidegger and Derrida opens a
space for animal subjectivity, it may also foreclose the tools to
understand its specificity. Christopher Peterson explored the
connection of animality and desire in Coetzee’s novel Disgrace. Chris
Danta delved into the representation of animals in post-Darwinian
literature, showing how these fables of metamorphosis and death stage
human finitude. Thom van Dooren’s reflections on death and mourning
among crows opened a space to explore our deathly entanglement with the
nonhuman. Matthew Chrulew took up a set of concepts in philosophical
ethology, advocating a more open-ended and experimental practice of
interspecies comportment. The workshop closed with Canadian philosopher
Brett Buchanan’s exploration of the inadequacy of 'behaviour' as a
concept and various alternatives formulated by Uexküll, Deleuze,
Haraway, Stengers, Sloterdijk and Latour. His patient probing
exemplified the workshop‘s spirit of open engagement. The obvious
profit so many took from the three days of discussion bodes well for
future interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange at this crucial
meeting point of philosophy, ethnology and ethology.
The
workshop was extraordinary in its effects of stimulating thought,
collegiality, and the desire for future gatherings. A sample of
post-workshop comments includes:
"The
workshop was indeed one of the best conferences I have ever attended,
due to the careful planning of topic and invitees and a group ethic of
true exchange and evaluation of ideas in a constructive but rigorous
manner. The forethought and the planning of the conference was
evident in the program and the group of folks assembled around the
table. It was neither a grouping of entirely like-minded scholars
working in precisely the same sub-area and sharing the same vocabulary,
methods, and questions, nor was it an interdisciplinary hodge-podge
which would defeat the possibility for constructive dialogue due to
deep and insurmountable differences of training, discipline, and
approach. Rather, it was a meeting of scholars from a wide
variety of particular backgrounds who nonetheless shared common
interests in an emergent horizon of urgent and increasing importance
across the academic disciplines and human society more broadly (the
questions of our relations to nonhuman animals and to the environment,
and the rapidly-changing status of our knowledge about nonhuman animal
lifeworlds, intelligence, capabilities, and comportment). Given
that these are areas in which discoveries are rapidly being made (much
greater sophistication in brain development, intelligence, and culture
among animals than we had long, erroneously, posited) and each
discipline is seeking to evaluate, update, and innovate appropriate
methods, this workshop was invaluable. The presentations and
exchanges there will undoubtedly be referred back to for years to come
as a vital point for the positing and working through of concerns such
as these. I feel certain that each participant drew value from
taking part, and I for one found it invaluable in developing dimensions
of my own work as well as in establishing and enriching connections
with key scholars in the field."
"Many
thanks for hosting the best workshop/conference I have ever attended.
The papers were all stimulating, and the collegial atmosphere allowed
for in-depth interdisciplinary discussion that was enlightening,
stimulating, and non-stop. I came away with new insights and new
colleagues."
"It
was a truly collaborative gathering of dedicated people from a range of
disciplines whose diverse presentations were distinguished by
originality, compelling research, impressive critical and creative
thinking and clarity of communication. It was exciting and inspiring to
be present as the dialogue developed and methodologies were shared. The
workshop will stay in my mind and feed into my work and projects in the
future. I feel most privileged to have been with you."
"It's
rare that one has the opportunity to go to a conference/workshop and
come away feeling that one has taken part in something special. The
degree of intimacy, warmth, and collaborative thought that transpire
was truly inspiring, and it is this that I took away most; developing
new and old friendships, and the desire to get on with my research in a
way that has been affected by the talks and conversations."
"I
feel very privileged to have been included in the recent Ethology
workshop. It was inspiring and thought-provoking, and a model of
constructive and generous interdisciplinary engagement. Its delicious
food for thought will be sustaining for a long time to come."
