A Is for Anecdotes, Amateurs, and Anomalies: Vinciane Despret’s Case for Exceptional Interspecies Relations

Anne Mcconnell

doi:10.3390/h11010020

Abstract

In Vinciane Despret’s book, What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?, she tells stories about animals that surprise us, that challenge our assumptions about the capabilities of animals, and that illustrate how we might best come to know them. Despret engages with the history of animal science and scientific methodology, while also turning her attention to less conventional sources of animal knowledge, such as Youtube videos, domestic animal breeders, and animal caregivers. For Despret, knowing more about animals requires knowing more with them, expanding our knowledge practices beyond conventional scientific models that often emphasize distanced observation, generalization, and laboratory research. Despret highlights relational practices that function through care and curiosity, understanding animals as collaborators, with interests and valuable input. By drawing our attention to anecdotes, amateurs, and anomalies, Despret challenges scientific conventions that dismiss all three, and illuminates fascinating stories about what animals might show us if we “ask the right questions”.

Highlights

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The anecdotes and anomalies that drive Despret’s work sometimes involve amateurs rather than trained scientists, and they all emphasize relational knowledge practices based on care, respect, and curiosity
Despret’s discovery of the work of Isabelle Stengers and Bruno Latour in the field of science studies provided an intellectual framework for her investigation into questions of methodology in varying ethological practices, and the broader assumptions underlying the scientific study of animals (Buchanan et al 2015, p. 167)

Summary

Introduction

Despret had the opportunity to observe the ways that other ethologists in the field were studying the babblers, using conventional methodologies that led them to see the birds’ behavior in ways that contrasted Zahavi’s interpretations.1 Despret’s discovery of the work of Isabelle Stengers and Bruno Latour in the field of science studies provided an intellectual framework for her investigation into questions of methodology in varying ethological practices, and the broader assumptions underlying the scientific study of animals

Results

Conclusion