Animal Influence I - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

ecoarttech
(G) Screen Grabs from #TrainingYRHuman ecoarttech
funeral, Bekoff received a “slew of emails” from
readers who had seen similar rituals: “These stories,
even from nonresearchers are indeed data, and
they challenge science to prove or disprove
them. More than ever, controlled scientific studies
are validating what our eyes clearly see” (7). But
who is this intuitive “we?” According to Wolfe, the
humanities and social sciences are sorely behind
even popular culture in their understanding of
animal subjecthood. Among cultural and critical
theorists, nonhuman animal rights and agency,
Wolfe warns, are still looked upon as the locus of a
“rash or even quaintly lunatic fringe” (1).
#TrainingYrHuman attempts to capture and
document everyday, unprofessional knowledge of
the agency of animals who live with humananimals,
a form of subliminal knowledge
circulating in oral culture that must be brought
into the field of narrative ethology.
Conclusion
The experience of adopting two Akitas has
caused us to rethink our own stereotypes about
dogs — and about animals in general. If even the
canine species, which has evolved to relate to
humans, might require us to reimagine humananimal
relationships, how might we misunderstand
animals in general? As eco-critic Timothy Morton
said recently in an interview, “According to
25
evolution science, there are two things humans
do very well, but they are a bit of an ego blow:
throwing and sweating. Everything else is also
done by nonhumans, including consciousness,
feelings, art, tool use.” So human beings are
simply sweaty throwers who think very highly of
themselves. It seems to us that the effort to hold
tight to definitions or to the idea of human-animal
divisions blocks the more interesting conflations
that happen (or are already happening) when we
let these categories slip away, when we welcome
the continuity between humanity and animality.
Therefore, rather than try to determine, define,
and predict in our art, we are more interested in
staging fluid experiences that ask difficult
questions and interrupt our sense of certainty.
When assumptions fail, things fall apart, and we
can’t depend on what we think we know, that is
when creative thinking is mobilized.
To Participate in #TrainingYRHuman
1. Login to Twitter.com. (Create an account if
you don’t have one. It’s free and easy.)
2. Write a Tweet from your companion animal’s
perspective that includes the tag
#TrainingYRHuman.
3. Search for or click on the #TrainingYRHuman
tag to see a list of recent tweets.