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Κυνηγοί, βοσκοί και χάμπουργκερ: Το παρελθόν και το μέλλον των σχέσεων μεταξύ ανθρώπων και ζώων
Ας ξεκινήσουμε με σεξ και αίμα.
Με αφετηρία έναν απροσδόκητο συσχετισμό ανάμεσα στη γοητεία που ασκούν οι σεξουαλικές και αιματηρές φαντασιώσεις και την ψυχολογική και σωματική αποξένωση από τα ζώα που μας θρέφουν και μας ντύνουν, ο Bulliet διαπιστώνει ότι έχει ανατείλει μια νέα εποχή στις σχέσεις μεταξύ ανθρώπων και ζώων – μια αλλαγή που έγινε μπροστά στα μάτια μας αλλά δεν έχει βρει ακόμα τους θεωρητικούς της. Σε αντιστάθμισμα για την απομάκρυνση από τα παραγωγικά ζώα, ο «μεταοικοσιτισμός» ευνοεί νέες ευαισθησίες που εκφράζονται από τη μία με τη λατρεία και τον εξανθρωπισμό των ζώων συντροφιάς και από την άλλη με το ενδιαφέρον για τα άγρια ζώα και την προστασία τους, ενώ το χάσμα μεταξύ ανθρώπων και ζώων, που είχε για αιώνες θεωρηθεί βαθύ και αγεφύρωτο, γίνεται αντικείμενο συζήτησης και αμφισβήτησης.
Συνδυάζοντας στοιχεία από την ανθρωπολογία, την αρχαιολογία, τη ζωολογία, την περιβαλλοντολογία και τη φιλοσοφία, ο ιστορικός επιχειρεί να εντάξει την αλλαγή αυτή σ’ ένα γενικότερο σχήμα μεταβολών στις σχέσεις ανθρώπων-ζώων, κινούμενος από την απώτερη προϊστορία ως τις προοπτικές του άμεσου μέλλοντος. Καθώς η εξημέρωση των οικόσιτων ζώων στάθηκε οπωσδήποτε αποφασιστικό ορόσημο στην ιστορία αυτή, οι ποικίλες θεωρίες εξημέρωσης εξετάζονται εδώ με κριτικό τρόπο και αναζητούνται εναλλακτικές. Αλλά πρόκειται μόνο για ένα σημείο σε μια πλούσια γκάμα θεμάτων, αφού ο Bulliet κινείται με την ίδια άνεση στο χώρο της λογοτεχνίας, του κινηματογράφου ή της λαϊκής κουλτούρας, ενώ η πολιτισμική ιστορία του γάιδαρου που ξετυλίγεται στο κεφάλαιο 8 θα μπορούσε να αποτελέσει ένα ανεξάρτητο, και απρόσμενα συναρπαστικό, βιβλίο.
Με αφετηρία έναν απροσδόκητο συσχετισμό ανάμεσα στη γοητεία που ασκούν οι σεξουαλικές και αιματηρές φαντασιώσεις και την ψυχολογική και σωματική αποξένωση από τα ζώα που μας θρέφουν και μας ντύνουν, ο Bulliet διαπιστώνει ότι έχει ανατείλει μια νέα εποχή στις σχέσεις μεταξύ ανθρώπων και ζώων – μια αλλαγή που έγινε μπροστά στα μάτια μας αλλά δεν έχει βρει ακόμα τους θεωρητικούς της. Σε αντιστάθμισμα για την απομάκρυνση από τα παραγωγικά ζώα, ο «μεταοικοσιτισμός» ευνοεί νέες ευαισθησίες που εκφράζονται από τη μία με τη λατρεία και τον εξανθρωπισμό των ζώων συντροφιάς και από την άλλη με το ενδιαφέρον για τα άγρια ζώα και την προστασία τους, ενώ το χάσμα μεταξύ ανθρώπων και ζώων, που είχε για αιώνες θεωρηθεί βαθύ και αγεφύρωτο, γίνεται αντικείμενο συζήτησης και αμφισβήτησης.
Συνδυάζοντας στοιχεία από την ανθρωπολογία, την αρχαιολογία, τη ζωολογία, την περιβαλλοντολογία και τη φιλοσοφία, ο ιστορικός επιχειρεί να εντάξει την αλλαγή αυτή σ’ ένα γενικότερο σχήμα μεταβολών στις σχέσεις ανθρώπων-ζώων, κινούμενος από την απώτερη προϊστορία ως τις προοπτικές του άμεσου μέλλοντος. Καθώς η εξημέρωση των οικόσιτων ζώων στάθηκε οπωσδήποτε αποφασιστικό ορόσημο στην ιστορία αυτή, οι ποικίλες θεωρίες εξημέρωσης εξετάζονται εδώ με κριτικό τρόπο και αναζητούνται εναλλακτικές. Αλλά πρόκειται μόνο για ένα σημείο σε μια πλούσια γκάμα θεμάτων, αφού ο Bulliet κινείται με την ίδια άνεση στο χώρο της λογοτεχνίας, του κινηματογράφου ή της λαϊκής κουλτούρας, ενώ η πολιτισμική ιστορία του γάιδαρου που ξετυλίγεται στο κεφάλαιο 8 θα μπορούσε να αποτελέσει ένα ανεξάρτητο, και απρόσμενα συναρπαστικό, βιβλίο.
397 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 2005
10 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Richard W. Bulliet
275 books43 followersRichard W. Bulliet is a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University who specializes in the history of Islamic society and institutions, the history of technology, and the history of the role of animals in human society.
Richard grew up in Illinois. He attended Harvard University, from which he received a BA in 1962 and a PhD in 1967.
Several of his books focus on Iran but deal also with the larger Muslim world, including The Patricians of Nishapur: a Study in Medieval Islamic History (1972), Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (1979), and Islam: the View from the Edge (1994). His books on a broader view of Islamic history and society include Under Siege: Islam and Democracy (1994) and The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization (2004). His book (1975) brings together his interest in the histories of technology, animal domestication, and the Middle East, dealing for example with the significant military advantage early Muslim armies gained from a slight improvement in the design of cloth camel saddles. He would return to the history of animal domestication with his Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships (2005).
He is the writer and editor of books of more general interest as well, including The Columbia History of the Twentieth Century (editor, 1998), The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East (co-editor, 1996), and The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History (co-author, 1997). He has also written several novels which draw on his knowledge of international politics and the Middle East, and is a promoter of the validity of comics as an art form.
His first fiction book, Kicked to Death by a Camel (1973), was nominated for an Edgar for “Best First Mystery”. His other fiction includes Tomb of the Twelfth Imam (1979), The Gulf Scenario (1984), The Sufi Fiddle (1991), and The One-Donkey Solution (2011).
Bulliet’s commentaries and opinion pieces on the Middle East have appeared in such newspapers The Guardian, New York Times International, and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Richard grew up in Illinois. He attended Harvard University, from which he received a BA in 1962 and a PhD in 1967.
Several of his books focus on Iran but deal also with the larger Muslim world, including The Patricians of Nishapur: a Study in Medieval Islamic History (1972), Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (1979), and Islam: the View from the Edge (1994). His books on a broader view of Islamic history and society include Under Siege: Islam and Democracy (1994) and The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization (2004). His book (1975) brings together his interest in the histories of technology, animal domestication, and the Middle East, dealing for example with the significant military advantage early Muslim armies gained from a slight improvement in the design of cloth camel saddles. He would return to the history of animal domestication with his Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships (2005).
He is the writer and editor of books of more general interest as well, including The Columbia History of the Twentieth Century (editor, 1998), The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East (co-editor, 1996), and The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History (co-author, 1997). He has also written several novels which draw on his knowledge of international politics and the Middle East, and is a promoter of the validity of comics as an art form.
His first fiction book, Kicked to Death by a Camel (1973), was nominated for an Edgar for “Best First Mystery”. His other fiction includes Tomb of the Twelfth Imam (1979), The Gulf Scenario (1984), The Sufi Fiddle (1991), and The One-Donkey Solution (2011).
Bulliet’s commentaries and opinion pieces on the Middle East have appeared in such newspapers The Guardian, New York Times International, and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 27, 2016
This absorbing collection of essays on our relationship with animals is well worth the read, even if academese sometimes congeals the writing's flow. Bulliet is mainly interested in questioning the hoary and unexamined suppositions of anthropologists about the origins of domestication. His central argument is that the assumption that domestication took place out of economic interest (animals as food or labor) colors the evidence (what there is of it) about how certain animals entered the human ambit. Instead, he suggests, the relationship is messier, less linear, and less obviously rational and utilitarian: that the human–animal encounter occurred because of our interest in them as totems or religious vessels. Bulliet has some stringent observations on "post-domesticity" (his word for the way we relate to animals today, now that the vast majority of us don't farm or kill them ourselves), and his chapter on the donkey is a masterly illustration of how strange, conflicting, and weighted with moral and metaphysical baggage is our attitude toward the/an animal. Bulliet gives few pointers to a "future of human–animal relationships" (pace the subtitle), but he is certainly illuminating about the past.
November 14, 2023
These three stars hinge on the strength of the first chapter, which is a real tour de force with a great hook regarding postdomesticity and the alienation from animal life that we find in our own lifetime. Bulliet's invocation of violence, bloodsport and pornography as trademarks of a postdomestic society are provocative and interesting, but, in my opinion, he fails to deliver on the circumstances which would allow to such developments.
The rest of the book contains good tidbits of theory here and there; his ideas about the centrality of animals in spirituality is interesting but I found his conclusions unrewarding. The rest of the book merely poses more questions about how animals became domesticated. For a book about postdomesticity, there is far too much focus on the pre-domestic and domestic era. To add to that, the Bulliet's incredible scope of time and space (those being the entirety of human civilization and every culture on the planet) doesn't do him any favours and makes his observations very general.
I still liked the book because of the proposition of postdomesticity which ought to be continually unpacked and is very relevant to our everyday.
The rest of the book contains good tidbits of theory here and there; his ideas about the centrality of animals in spirituality is interesting but I found his conclusions unrewarding. The rest of the book merely poses more questions about how animals became domesticated. For a book about postdomesticity, there is far too much focus on the pre-domestic and domestic era. To add to that, the Bulliet's incredible scope of time and space (those being the entirety of human civilization and every culture on the planet) doesn't do him any favours and makes his observations very general.
I still liked the book because of the proposition of postdomesticity which ought to be continually unpacked and is very relevant to our everyday.
July 12, 2008
People, let's talk about Post Domestic party jams...
September 22, 2014
I read this book in grad school as a counter to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. Bulliet certainly is not a fan of Diamond, and ultimately his points against Diamond are very good.
His discussion of Human-Animal Relationships is very interesting, although it went a little bit into hippy land when extrapolating into the future. I will have to find the critique I wrote when I first read it and post it here in place of these vague rememberings.
His discussion of Human-Animal Relationships is very interesting, although it went a little bit into hippy land when extrapolating into the future. I will have to find the critique I wrote when I first read it and post it here in place of these vague rememberings.
April 26, 2016
Fascinating arguments about domestic society and post-domestic society, but what's with the author and bestiality? First chapter kinda overshadows the rest of the book because of the casual talk of sheep-fucking.
Still, read it.
Still, read it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews