BOOK REVIEW: Reflections on Michael C. Tobias’s and Jane Gray Morrison’s
Anthrozoology: Embracing Co-Existence in theAnthropocene
Some people
are just born with more energy than others. No doubt Michael C. Tobias
and Jane Gray Morrison are among them. How they manage to produce the
volume of work they do is beyond me. In
addition to serving as President and Executive Vice President respectively of
the NGO, Dancing Star Foundation, which focuses on
international biodiversity conservation, global environmental education, and
animal protection, the couple has written over 50 books,
and produced over 100 films. But it’s not just the volume of their body of work
that’s amazing. It’s also the breadth of their knowledge and the depth of
their thinking. Their most recent book, Anthrozoology: Embracing
Co-Existence in the Anthropocene, is a case in point. It focuses on
humanity’s relationship with other species from the earliest of time, when human activities first had a measurable impact on the
Earth and it’s inhabitants, and forward through the course of the integrated
history of humans and other species inhabiting the planet (aka per the authors,
“The Others”).
If
you are familiar with the work of Tobias and Morrison, you would expect a new
book by the couple to be thick in description. And this book is, both as
etic and emic discourse. I chose to focus on Chapter 2, “Our Conquest of
Coevolution?,” and Chapter 11, “A North American Family: The Ecologies of
Translation,” because the authors confided in me that they feel these are the
book’s most radical chapters. But I also lightly read from other chapters
here and there including Chapter 1, which I found useful to grasp the authors’
lexicon of ecological philosophy and animal liberation science, subjects not as
familiar to me as they should; and the Coda, which brings their theses full circle.
In the course of my read, I encountered head-spinning interpretation of
tightly integrated contents ranging from histories and ethics of conquest amply
supported by quantifiable data, irreverent musings about shortcomings of normal
science, e.g. comparative zoology vis-à-vis reverence for and understanding of
animals through aesthetic expression, blunt and passionate ideology, and even
delightful, philosophical prose which occasionally bordered on the mindful
pleasures of Thoreau or the effective, often anecdotal, writing style of Aldo
Leopold and his penchant, like that of the authors for lists, or perhaps even Native
American perspectives in literature and history such as those imbued in the
affable trickster, coyote. All of which gave me pause on more than one
occasion, to look up from my copy of the book, smile, and ponder the book’s
spiral structure, which I imagined as something akin to Max’s memorable line in
Maurice Sendak’s book, when he “sailed off through the night, and in and out of
weeks, and almost over a year, to where the wild things are.”[i] The sectioning
of the book, and its lexiconic vocabulary creates that kind of spiraling
cadence, which is not only part of the charm of this book, but also an aide to
a reader like me not schooled in the science of Anthrozoology. Whereas I
occasionally found myself challenged in sections where jargon and rich
vocabulary was foreign, I would no sooner spiral out into the next section
where familiar language and train of thought made for a connected read.
In
the book’s Preface, that authors state, “At the book’s core is a singular
proposition: Homo sapiens are a species that is failing, in contrast
with nearly all those Others on Earth. But our biological redemption is
still possible. It will require unstinting kindness, personal humility, and
sacrifice, and the awakening of the collective conscience in both ideal as well
as pragmatic ways that can work to safeguard remaining biomes and individuals –
the ultimate drivers of ecological success - in whatever near infinite time
frames are possible.” [ii]
For
Morrison and Tobias, sentiments expressed in Anthrozoology about The Others are
not mere words. Rather, they have been tantamount to lifestyle, as
revealed in the autobiographical second half of Chapter 11, in which they
recount the joys and lessons of life over the course of 30 years lived with
Josie, a Yellow-Headed Parrot (Amazona oratrix) from Tres Marias
Islands, Mexico. In the chapter, Morrison and Tobias explain that of 22
known psittacine species in Mexico, 20 are threatened (An estimated 78,500 are
captured annually at a 75% rate of mortality after capture!). After a
raft of psittacine facts and figures, the authors proceed to give voice to the
parrot’s “kyaa-aa-aaah and krra-aah-aa-ow” in a dozen pages for those readers
who might not otherwise infer meaning from the vocalizing of a parrot: “Josie:
‘Throughout my varied flight patterns, over a life now verging on one hundred
of your years, I have heard it uttered by many learned people that we parrots
display a greater linguistic range than any known bird-type. Indeed it is
further alleged that we can wield more verb tenses, flamboyant adjectives, and
past perfect syllogisms beyond that of any known species. Frankly, this
is a bit overstated . . .’” [iii] Though this humanizing device adds validity
and charm to the book, I don’t want to give the misconception that
Anthrozoology is sentimental. To the contrary, it can be as ideologically
blunt as anything you will read: “Anyone who considers him or herself to
be a conservationist and eats animals is a preposterous hypocrite, and a
dangerous one because such contradictory actions enforce a template of behavior
by example that easily turns to preconception, and further ladens biological
opinion with the bias of great harm.”[iv]
Anthrozoology:
Embracing Co-Existence in the Anthropocene is packed with example after example
of attitudes, values, behaviors, and practices of human dominance toward
animals across and throughout cultural history. The catalogue of examples
which Morrison and Tobias present of human inhumanity against animals is
encyclopedic and impressive. The book argues that unless humanity
liberates itself from biological hegemony, human existence will self-destruct,
but also that there is an antidote: communication. In the authors’ own
words: “. . . the crucial message that lives and breathes throughout the book:
That our love and reverence of other organisms,
yes, other species, and our humble efforts to somehow non-invasively engage
with them, may be key to solving the crisis of the Anthropocene which, most
noticeably, has translated into the Sixth Extinction Spasm in the history of
life on earth, [v] a biospheric Holocaust occurring 24/7.” Throughout
Anthrozoology, Tobias and Morrison reiterate their concern for the need for
communication with other species. In the process, the book’s dire yet
hopeful core message establishes that the world of Homo sapiens and
Others is full of bifurcated challenges and opportunities.
Earlier,
I mentioned that the spiral sectioning of this book reminded me of a line from
Maurice Sendak’s children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. But, another
reminder, this time a picture instead of words, also stuck in my mind as an
image or symbol of the spiral trajectory of Anthrozoology in the current
context in which we live. If you’ve ever seen a James Bond movie, I’m
sure you know the image: the rifled bore of a Walther PPK in each opening
sequence. Just as the bullet in Bond’s Walther PPK is given its accuracy
by the spiral of its bore, so too do Morrison and Tobias confront bifurcation
and inaction by establishing the escalating urgency of their rallying cry:
. . . This is
a desperate time. These are depressing realizations but the evidence has
quickly and abundantly mounted. We are all in trouble. What is most
distressing, and at the root of this accelerated truth of our waning
durability, or rationale for even being allowed . . . to continue, is that we
are also dragging all those other species and habitats down with us and in so
doing, predicating the extinction of humanity itself. [vi]
Though
Anthrozoology is a book about compassion, hope, and the promise of
communication, I for one, felt the scales of my read tip toward pending danger
given the pathetic state of current presidential politics. In fact, I
confess that there were times while I was reading this book, that I was unable
to do so from a hopeful perspective. (When I came across this line
comparing humans to “The Others,” for example, it was next to impossible for me
to read it without association: “No other species has ever dared to
massively behave so foolishly, narcissistically, angrily, so ruthlessly.”[vii] On
the other hand, I found the authors’ skill at conveying the sense of joy and
mystery from love and understanding of all species to be infectious and
up-lifting.
Questions about Anthrozoology remain in my mind: Can the authors’ utopian
ideals transcend a self-serving world that values short-term gain? From a
literary perspective, I wondered about the nature of the author’s
collaboration. How do they work? Their voices are unified in the
text, but I am curious about their research and writing methods, i.e. who does
what? It would be interesting to hear them talk about that in a
seminar. In any event, Anthrozoology is a challenging yet informative and
very creative book; one that I imagine would engage and stimulate students,
among others, in countless, unimaginable ways.
David J.
Wagner, Ph.D.
David J. Wagner, is the President of David
J. Wagner, L.L.C. , a limited liability corporation established in
the state of Wisconsin for the principle purpose of producing and managing
traveling exhibitions for display at museums and related art, cultural and scientific
institutions in North America and abroad. He previously served as a
museum director for 20 years, and is an author with a long list
of lectures and book signings. He also occasionally serves museums as a
guest curator, and as adjunct faculty at colleges and universities.
[i] Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, originally published by Harper & Row, 1963
[ii] Anthrozoology: Embracing
Co-Existence in the Anthropocene, P. xv. In a recent interview about the
book, the authors went further, saying that “. . . unless we
liberate ourselves from a 200,000 year-long biological hegemony that we have
assiduously tried to maintain by dominating all other creatures, we will
self-destruct, and soon (My emphasis.) January 13, 2017 Interview
by Marc Bekoff https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201701/anthrozoology-embracing-co-existence-in-the-anthropocene
