Of Dodos and Dutchmen: reflections on the nature of history

Abstract

History‐making is a defining property of the human species; the ability to retain information in symbolic form over time (an ability which is granted principally by the presence of true natural language) is a unique attribute of the human animal. It has allowed human beings to enter in a qualitatively different relationship with the physical environment, and to operate in and alter that environment in highly complex, highly effective ways. To a great extent, the types of events that structure this way of life are absent from the rest of the natural world; in order to describe them accurately, it is necessary to attend to the special quality which defines them, a quality which we can characterise as their 'historical‐ness'. Descriptions of human events cannot overlook the histories that organise and determine them, and to that extent they are not fruitfully apprehended with the tools of the exact sciences and instead require attention from the social sciences; but nevertheless, the phenomena of history are a part of the natural world, since they are part of the life of the organism. History itself arises in the non‐historical crucible of biology. The paper examines a particular suite of events which have distinct historical and non‐historical aspects ‐ the extinction of the Dodo ‐ in order to explore the epistemological difficulties which necessarily complicate any attempt to view human conduct as an integrated part of the natural world.

Aeolian Empires: The Influence of Winds and Currents on European Maritime Expansion in the Days of Sail

“…The "great route" to the Indies discovered in 1611 passed just south of the Mascarenes converting these islands into important maritories for eastbound vessels. 91 Batavia, too, became a key maritory for the Dutch, the fulcrum or "traffic control centre" for most shipping in Asia. 92 One of the key advantages of Batavia was that ships were able to reach port in all seasons and were not dependent on the monsoons.…”

Where are the wild things? Animals in western medieval European History

“…Scholars founded journals dedicated to animals, and existing journals produced special issues . Some historians, meanwhile, have questioned whether nonhuman animals can have agency and therefore be appropriate subjects, rather than objects, of history (Gooding, ). Thing Theory, however, and Actor Network Theory challenge the notion that an entity must have agency to be the subject of history (Brown, ; Latour, ).…”

“Dead as a Dodo”

“…In a similar vein, animal studies scholar Erica Fudge recently asked in her critique of Francis Gooding's essay on dodos and the nature of history, "But can animals be likewise recognised as change-making creatures; do animals, in short, have agency?" (Fudge 2006;Gooding 2005; also see Freeman 2011:153-68). While Fudge proposes "other models of history" that might allow us to excavate how dodos, and not just humans, "shaped the past," it is worth underscoring that we are yet to fully understand the ecology and morphology of the bird.…”