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An award-winning exploration of the presence of the dead in the
lives of the living A common remedy after suffering the loss of a
loved one is to progress through the “stages of grief,” with
“acceptance” as the final stage in the process. But is it
necessary to leave death behind, to stop dwelling on the dead, to
get over the pain? Vinciane Despret thinks not. In her fascinating,
elegantly translated book, this influential thinker argues that, in
practice, people in all cultures continue to enjoy a lively,
inventive, positive relationship with their dead. Through her
unique storytelling woven from ethnographic sources and her own
family history, Despret assembles accounts of those who have found
ways to live their daily lives with their dead. She rejects the
idea that one must either subscribe to “complete mourning” (in
a sense, to get rid of the dead) or else fall into fantasy and
superstition. She explores instead how the dead still play an
active, tangible role through those who are living, who might
assume their place in a family or in society; continue their labor
or art; or thrive from a shared inheritance or an organ donation.
This is supported by dreams and voices, novels, television and
popular culture, the work of clairvoyants, and the everyday stories
and activities of the living. For decades now, in the West, the
dead have been discreet and invisible. Today, especially as a
result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Despret suggests that perhaps we
will be willing to engage with the dead in ways that bring us
happiness despite our loss. Despret’s unique method of
inquiry makes her book both entertaining and instructive. Our
Grateful Dead offers a new, pragmatic approach to social and
cultural research and may indeed provide compassionate therapy for
those of us coping with death.
A groundbreaking reflection on the process by which one arrives at
an ethological theory How do humans study the complex worlds of
animals without imposing their own societal and scientific gaze
upon them? The biologist Amotz Zahavi stakes the controversial
claim that Arabian babblers are said to raise themselves up each
day to dance and tend to one another in the early morning sun. Such
a claim will provoke the interest and intellectual curiosity of a
young philosopher and psychologist recognizing that the best way
for her to observe the practices of scientists at work is to join
them on their terrain. Embedding herself in the field alongside
ethologists in the Negev desert, Vinciane Despret deftly depicts
and reflects on the process by which scientists construct their
theories within the milieu of the animals they study. Along the
way, and not without humor, Despret analyzes a variety of theories
posited by many well-known thinkers, including Zahavi, who devoted
his life to the interpretation, companionship, and conservation of
the Arabian babbler bird, and naturalists such as Charles Darwin
and Pierre Kropotkin.
"You are about to enter a new genre, that of scientific fables, by
which I don't mean science fiction, or false stories about science,
but, on the contrary, true ways of understanding how difficult it
is to figure out what animals are up to." -Bruno Latour, form the
Foreword Is it all right to urinate in front of animals? What does
it mean when a monkey throws its feces at you? Do apes really know
how to ape? Do animals form same-sex relations? Are they the new
celebrities of the twenty-first century? This book poses twenty-six
such questions that stretch our preconceived ideas about what
animals do, what they think about, and what they want. In a
delightful abecedarium of twenty-six chapters, Vinciane Despret
argues that behaviors we identify as separating humans from animals
do not actually properly belong to humans. She does so by exploring
incredible and often funny adventures about animals and their
involvements with researchers, farmers, zookeepers, handlers, and
other human beings. Do animals have a sense of humor? In reading
these stories it is evident that they do seem to take perverse
pleasure in creating scenarios that unsettle even the greatest of
experts, who in turn devise newer and riskier hypotheses that
invariably lead them to conclude that animals are not nearly as
dumb as previously thought. These deftly translated accounts oblige
us, along the way, to engage in both ethology and philosophy.
Combining serious scholarship with humor that will resonate with
anyone, this book-with a foreword by noted French philosopher,
anthropologist, and sociologist of science Bruno Latour-is a must
not only for specialists but also for general readers, including
dog owners, who will never look at their canine companions the same
way again.
The first major monograph on the work of contemporary Belgian
artist Fabrice Samyn Contemporary Belgian artist Fabrice Samyn (b.
1981) works in a wide variety of media, including painting,
photography, sculpture, installation, and recently choreography.
His art engages with history and the passage of time, raising
important questions about representation, idolatry, iconoclasm, and
ecology in our contemporary world. In the artist's own words, "My
work attempts to reveal time, or rather natural phenomena of time
(erosion for example) as creative." One of his best-known series,
"Sinai" (2010), features photographic images of the necks of Greek
sculptures, cropped and lit in such a way that they become abstract
landscapes. This book is the first to offer an in-depth exploration
of the full scope of Samyn's oeuvre. Copiously illustrated, the
book also includes penetrating essays by prominent European
philosophers and art historians. Distributed for Mercatorfonds
Exhibition Schedule: Gallerie Sies + Hoek, Dusseldorf (2020)
An award-winning exploration of the presence of the dead in the
lives of the living A common remedy after suffering the loss of a
loved one is to progress through the "stages of grief," with
"acceptance" as the final stage in the process. But is it necessary
to leave death behind, to stop dwelling on the dead, to get over
the pain? Vinciane Despret thinks not. In her fascinating,
elegantly translated book, this influential thinker argues that, in
practice, people in all cultures continue to enjoy a lively,
inventive, positive relationship with their dead. Through her
unique storytelling woven from ethnographic sources and her own
family history, Despret assembles accounts of those who have found
ways to live their daily lives with their dead. She rejects the
idea that one must either subscribe to "complete mourning" (in a
sense, to get rid of the dead) or else fall into fantasy and
superstition. She explores instead how the dead still play an
active, tangible role through those who are living, who might
assume their place in a family or in society; continue their labor
or art; or thrive from a shared inheritance or an organ donation.
This is supported by dreams and voices, novels, television and
popular culture, the work of clairvoyants, and the everyday stories
and activities of the living. For decades now, in the West, the
dead have been discreet and invisible. Today, especially as a
result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Despret suggests that perhaps we
will be willing to engage with the dead in ways that bring us
happiness despite our loss. Despret's unique method of inquiry
makes her book both entertaining and instructive. Our Grateful Dead
offers a new, pragmatic approach to social and cultural research
and may indeed provide compassionate therapy for those of us coping
with death.
"You are about to enter a new genre, that of scientific fables, by
which I don't mean science fiction, or false stories about science,
but, on the contrary, true ways of understanding how difficult it
is to figure out what animals are up to." -Bruno Latour, form the
Foreword Is it all right to urinate in front of animals? What does
it mean when a monkey throws its feces at you? Do apes really know
how to ape? Do animals form same-sex relations? Are they the new
celebrities of the twenty-first century? This book poses twenty-six
such questions that stretch our preconceived ideas about what
animals do, what they think about, and what they want. In a
delightful abecedarium of twenty-six chapters, Vinciane Despret
argues that behaviors we identify as separating humans from animals
do not actually properly belong to humans. She does so by exploring
incredible and often funny adventures about animals and their
involvements with researchers, farmers, zookeepers, handlers, and
other human beings. Do animals have a sense of humor? In reading
these stories it is evident that they do seem to take perverse
pleasure in creating scenarios that unsettle even the greatest of
experts, who in turn devise newer and riskier hypotheses that
invariably lead them to conclude that animals are not nearly as
dumb as previously thought. These deftly translated accounts oblige
us, along the way, to engage in both ethology and philosophy.
Combining serious scholarship with humor that will resonate with
anyone, this book-with a foreword by noted French philosopher,
anthropologist, and sociologist of science Bruno Latour-is a must
not only for specialists but also for general readers, including
dog owners, who will never look at their canine companions the same
way again.
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