You see me, but do you hear me? The science and sensibility of trans-species dialogue

Abstract

Talking with animals comes naturally and happens the world over. Traditional indigenous peoples depend on their abilities to understand the birds, grazers, and hunters who share their land and waters and we converse intimately with the dogs, cats, birds, and other animals with whom we live. Nonetheless, science and society cast a skeptical eye on claims that animals think and communicate on par with humans. Now, this view is changing. We have entered into a remarkable new ethical and psychological consilience as scientific theories and data converge with age-old experience. Communicating with animals -hearing what they are saying and talking with them -is not only possible, it has never stopped.

Interspecies Pedagogy: What Could a Horse Teach Me About Teaching?

“…Verbal language is a poor medium for communicating emotional nuances, whereas non-verbal communication constitutes the primary medium of transmitting emotions in more-than-humans (Bradshaw 2010). Inter-subjectivity is an ability to share emotions non-verbally (Stern 1998).…”

“…Even though this sometimes seems impossible, I will argue that it is more likely that we meet the students' needs if we are more attentive and flexible during the teaching, rather that more expansive with the planning. The kinds of experiences we facilitate for our students depend not only on what we say, but rather more on how we speak, act and move -how we transmit socio-emotional information beneath our level of awareness (Bradshaw 2010).…”

Contemporary Issues in African Sciences and Science Education

“…Similar to Elliot's conceptualization of the false prescribed divergence between Western understandings of science and Indigenous knowledge, Bradshaw (2010) writes about trans-species communication. He begins by relating the long history of Indigenous peoples speaking to animals and then by refuting what used to be mocking discourses of these practices through the use of Western science.…”

“…He begins by relating the long history of Indigenous peoples speaking to animals and then by refuting what used to be mocking discourses of these practices through the use of Western science. Beginning by citing studies finding little genetic difference between animals and humans, Bradshaw (2010) states that science has found what Indigenous people have known, that "other animals posses (sic) capacities formerly assumed to be uniquely human and neuropsychological discoveries have led to a species-inclusive model of the mind depicting humans and other animals … with virtually the same neurobiological structures and mechanisms underlying what seemed to make us special, including cognition, emotions, ethics, decision-making, a sense of self, the capacity to suffer psychologically and vocal learning (p. 409). While these conceptualizations were mocked, some elements of Western science have begun to adopt similar understandings whereby "slowly, modern humanity is turning from anthropocentrism toward ecocentrism: away from ways of being that separate humans from other animals and a return to those that bring multiple species into community" (p. 408).…”

“…Speech then is critiqued as an ineffective method of communication and as such an unacceptable excuse for believing animals are unable to communicate, as Bradshaw (2010) states "the 'verbal channel' is a relatively poor medium of expressing the quality, intensity and nuancing and emotion of affect in different social situations" (p. 414). These experiences are understood as employing forms of communication whereby meaning can be derived.…”