A Bird in the House: An Anthropological Perspective on Companion Parrots

Anderson, Patricia K.

doi:10.1163/156853003322796109

Cited by 52 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Baby birds and dogs are kept in straw baskets and fed by hand, are set on laps, and like human children sleep in the company of their owners; the young mammals collected in the forest tend to be more reluctant and are kept in cages or on chains, but at least in the Karitiana view this is a far cry from abuse or neglect. Just like human children, the young of introduced domestic animals (such as puppies and chicks) -and the wild pets, which remain "eternal children" (Anderson, 2003) for their entire lives -certainly help to adorn the villages. When they become adults, however, the treatment of these beings changes appreciably.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Village Ornaments: Familiarization and Pets as Art(ifacts) in Amazonia

Velden

2016

Vibrant, Virtual Braz. Anthr.

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The objective of this article is to discuss some reasons the Karitiana (Rondônia, Brazil) evoke to explain their ever-present desire to maintain familiarized or domesticated animals in their villages. Based on the ethnography of the relationships among the Karitiana and these animals, this paper enters into dialogue with the hypotheses formulated to explore the Amazonian people's fondness for the company of non-human species. It also provides insights for rethinking these debates, advocating that Indians are particularly looking for beauty represented by the diversity of animals and by the arts of domestication, just like the aesthetics of conviviality as proposed by Joanna Overing. This aesthetic dimension of human-animal relations seems to be overlooked by theorists of domestication or familiarization because they consider these phenomena to be more techniques or technologies than arts. Renewed perspectives on human-animal relations can be opened by addressing the "arts of domestication" and avoiding an a priori opposition between technique and art.Keywords: human-animal relations; domesticity; familiarization; art; aesthetics. Enfeites de aldeia:familiarização e mascotes como arte(fatos) na Amazônia ResumoEste artigo discute o desejo sempre presente, entre os Karitiana (Rondônia), de ter animais domesticados ou familiarizados em suas aldeias. A partir da etnografia de seus animais de criação, dialoga com hipóteses formuladas para investigar o gosto dos povos indígenas pela companhia de seres não humanos, e defende que os povos indígenas procuram especialmente a beleza, representada pela diversidade de animais e pelas artes envolvidas na sua familiarização e na realização de um bem viver doméstico, que se traduzem em uma estética da convivialidade (Joanna Overing). Esta dimensão estética da relação com animais parece ter sido esquecida diante de trabalhos que abordam a familiarização e/ou a domesticação de animais como técnicas ou tecnologias e não como artes. Novas perspectivas para a análise da relação entre humanos e não humanos podem ser abertas com o tratamento das "artes da domesticação", evitando-se oposição apriorística entre técnica e arte.Palavras-chave: relações humano-animal; domesticidade; familiarização; arte; estética. 1 This article was made possible by reviews, comments, and suggestions from various partners on the two occasions when the preliminary results were presented. I especially would like to thank

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Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Village Ornaments: Familiarization and Pets as Art(ifacts) in Amazonia

Velden

2016

Vibrant, Virtual Braz. Anthr.

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“…Such a perspective is anthropocentric in that it implies that other animals do not live lives independent of what humans ascribe them to be. Several studies have explored the value-to humans-of keeping companion animals and the role of these animals [2,5,6,40]. Studies have also established the positive therapeutic effect animals have on humans [e.g., 5,6,13].…”

Section: Why Keep Compans?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in Ashkelon in Israel and in Paris), indicating the social value of the compan [40]. 7 Furthermore, Anderson [2] suggests that parrots may substitute children. In Latin America, parrots are very frequently kept as compans due to their prevalence and thus availability; for example, parrots are found in 24% of all households in Costa Rica [48].…”

Section: Why Keep Compans?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Now many of the girls who got the dogs are selling them cheaply through the internet. 14 An American study among parrot owners showed that 85% [N = 97] of respondents wing clipped their birds despite the negative effects: Although Anderson defends wing clipping on the basis of the dangers to parrots when flying in the home, this may also be seen as the parrot owners' desire to control their bird, and perhaps emphasises the compans as captives rather than friends (or-f(eathered k)ids-fids) [2].…”

Section: Captive Compansmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expressions of speciesism: the effects of keeping companion animals on animal abuse, animal trafficking and species decline

Sollund

2011

Crime Law Soc Change

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Humans' contact with other animals is chiefly organised around humans' own consumption and 'needs'. This article begins with an aspect of the human-non-human animal relationship that is connected to animals as social, not material beings -'petkeeping'. Over the past few years the pet industry has expanded enormously. I discuss how the keeping of companion animals can be understood, and the consequences for the animals involved; this practice leaves an increasing number vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, not the least dogs-the most common companion animal. The market for companion animals worldwide is fed by breeding, but also by the abduction of animals and birds from their habitats. Keeping companion animals contributes greatly to the endangerment of many species, parrots in particular. Therefore the focus of this paper especially concerns parrots and the consequences they and their species suffer from being abducted, trafficked and traded, whether the trade is criminalized or not. I will discuss implications of the CITES convention, whether it serves to legitimate rather than protect animals from trade, trafficking and suffering.

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“…Very few studies have been undertaken on the human-bird bond (Beck & Hatcher, 1989;Barber, 1993;Anderson, 2003) but nevertheless they reveal that avian companionship is similar qualitatively to the one provided by cats or dogs. However, the vocal ability of parrots stimulates the dialogue-seeking behaviour of the owner.…”

Section:  Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Unwilling’ versus ‘unable’

Péron

Rat‐Fischer

Nagle

et al. 2010

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Intentionality plays a fundamental part in human social interactions and we know that interpretation of behaviours of conspecifics depends on the intentions underlying them. Most of the studies on intention attribution were undertaken with primates. However, very little is known on this topic in animals more distantly related to humans such as birds. Three hand-reared African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were tested on their ability to understand human intentional actions. The subjects' attention was not equally distributed across the conditions and their behavioural pattern also changed depending on the condition: the parrots showed more requesting behaviours (opening of the beak and request calls) when the experimenter was unwilling to give them seeds, and bit the wire mesh that represented the obstacle more when the experimenter was trying to give them food. For the first time we showed that a bird species, like primates, may be sensitive to behavioural cues of a human according to his intentions.

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A Bird in the House: An Anthropological Perspective on Companion Parrots

Cited by 52 publications

References 19 publications

Village Ornaments: Familiarization and Pets as Art(ifacts) in Amazonia

Village Ornaments: Familiarization and Pets as Art(ifacts) in Amazonia

Expressions of speciesism: the effects of keeping companion animals on animal abuse, animal trafficking and species decline

‘Unwilling’ versus ‘unable’

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