Fionnáin reviewed The Dance of the Arabian Babbler by Vinciane Despret
Thoughts about thinking
4 stars
I adore Despret, and have built much of my recent artistic career off her wonderful writing, so this review is written bearing in mind that I have come with foreknowledge. Despret's philosophy uses our attitudes toward animals and birds as a way to analyse human behaviours. Throughout her career, she has shown how unconscious bias and cultural prejudice influence what we think are objective views on nonhuman behaviours.
This monograph charts the beginning of her process, and shows how she followed the work of an ethologist named Zahavi who observed bird behaviours over a long career. Despret, as a young researcher, travelled with Zahavi and his colleagues in Israel, looking to disassemble why his views on the Arabian Babbler caused such consternation in the scientific community, even among his own colleagues. Much of this was due to Zahavi giving space for the babblers to be unique, conscious individuals with complex …
I adore Despret, and have built much of my recent artistic career off her wonderful writing, so this review is written bearing in mind that I have come with foreknowledge. Despret's philosophy uses our attitudes toward animals and birds as a way to analyse human behaviours. Throughout her career, she has shown how unconscious bias and cultural prejudice influence what we think are objective views on nonhuman behaviours.
This monograph charts the beginning of her process, and shows how she followed the work of an ethologist named Zahavi who observed bird behaviours over a long career. Despret, as a young researcher, travelled with Zahavi and his colleagues in Israel, looking to disassemble why his views on the Arabian Babbler caused such consternation in the scientific community, even among his own colleagues. Much of this was due to Zahavi giving space for the babblers to be unique, conscious individuals with complex personalities and mottivations. Despret documents this as monograph and theory, in a wonderful book that is thoughtful and considerate, and would be a nice introduction to anyone who would like to explore her writing further.