The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics: A Hoot in the Light

by Alex C. Parrish

Overview

The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics: A Hoot in the Light presents the latest research in animal perception and cognition in the context of rhetorical theory. Alex C. Parrish explores the science of animal signaling that shows human and nonhuman animals share similar rhetorical strategies—such as communicating to manipulate or persuade—which suggests the vast impact sensory modalities have on communication in nature. The book demonstrates new ways of seeing humans and how we have separated ourselves from, and subjectified, the animal rhetor. This type of cross-species study allows us to trace the origins of our own persuasive behaviors, providing a deeper and more inclusive history of rhetoric than ever before.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030767143
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	07/15/2021
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature
Edition description:	1st ed. 2021
Pages:	349
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alex C. Parrish is Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication at James Madison University, USA. His previous books include Adaptive Rhetoric: Evolution, Culture, and the Art of Persuasion (2013) and Rhetorical Animals: Boundaries of the Human in the Study of Persuasion (2017).

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Hoot in the Light.- Adaptive Rhetoric: A Biocultural Paradigm for the Study of Persuasion.- Challenges to the Cross-Species Study of Rhetoric.- Information Sharing, Deceit, and Manipulation.- The Audio-Visual Norm.- Tactile Persuasion (Haptics).- Gustatory and Olfactory Rhetorics.- Thermoception.- Electroreception.- Echolocation-. A Brief History of Rhetorical Theory’s Role in Human Exceptionalism.- The Study of Animal Rhetorics as ‘Awareness Raising’.- Future Directions for the Cross-Species Study of Persuasion.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Through this study of how the different (nonhuman) ways other animals perceive the world (electroreception, thermoception, echolocation) and how these in turn shape the forms of their communication and persuasion, Parrish further extends the field of human-animal studies to communication. As it decenters human exceptionalism, the interface with ‘animal rhetoric’ has important implications for the ethics of our treatment of other animals.” (Kenneth Shapiro, Cofounder and President of the Board of the Animals & Society Institute, USA, and founding editor of Society & Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies)

“In The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics, Alex Parrish offers readers (or human animals) novel insights into modes of communication among nonhuman animals through sensory channels far beyond sight and hearing. These unique communicative abilities across the phyla highlight the biological fundamentals under the cultural constructions of communication, the yin and yang of Parrish’s biocultural approach. The result of his multidisciplinary review is a new appreciation for the continuities across species in our evolved abilities to persuade.” (Jeanne Fahnesk, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, USA and author of Rhetorical Figures in Science (1999))

“In this lively tour through recent research on the variety of sensory modes employed by animals, Parrish expands our vision of persuasion beyond the limitations of audio-visual rhetoric into the biocultural. Persuasion occurs not only through language and images but through touch, gestures, tastes, smells, and other modes in ways we don’t notice or are blind to. And, as Parrish argues, our inabilities to ‘listen’ to others leads to damages as well as real dangers.” (Marilyn M. Cooper, Emerita Professor of Humanities at Michigan Technological University, USA, and author of The Animal Who Writes: A Posthumanist Composition (2019))

“Alex Parrish has shed new light on what often goes unsaid: human beings are not special—not special amongst the animal kingdom, anyway. While our rhetorical capacities are many and varied, so are our biological limitations, and if we see rhetoric as a bio-cultural force, these limitations become startlingly clear. Through insightful cross-species rhetorical investigation, Parrish shows the folly of human rhetorical exceptionalism and points out possible directions in cross-species rhetorics.” (Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder, Associate Professor of Scientific and Technical Writing, Oregon State University, USA)