New
By: Ambika Kamath(Author), Melina Packer(Author)
208 pages, 12 b/w illustrations
![Feminism in the Wild]( "Feminism in the Wild")
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About this book
Contents
Customer reviews
Biography
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About this book
How dominant culture – from sexism and homophobia to racism, capitalism, ableism, and more – has limited the science of animal behaviour, and how we can free ourselves from these limited perspectives.
In Feminism in the Wild, Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer reveal how scientists studying animal behaviour have long projected human norms and values onto animals while seeking to understand them. When scientific studies conclude that these norms and values are natural in animals, it makes it easier to think of them as natural in humans too. And because scientists, historically and to this day, largely belong to elite, powerful segments of society, the norms and values embedded in animal behaviour science match those of the already powerful. How can animal behaviour science escape this trap of naturalizing dominant culture?
Drawing from decades of feminist, antiracist, queer, disability justice, and Marxist contributions – including those of biologists – Kamath and Packer break down persistent assumptions in the status quo of animal behaviour science and offer a multitude of alternative approaches. Core concepts in animal behaviour science and evolutionary biology – from sex categories and sexual selection to fitness, adaptation, biological determinism, and more – are carefully contextualized and critically reexamined. This unique collaboration between an animal behaviour scientist and a feminist science studies scholar is an illuminating and hopeful read for anyone who is curious about how animals behave, and anyone who wants to break free from scientific approaches that perpetuate systems of oppression.
Contents
Prologue: Why We Need a Feminist Science of Animal Behavior
Chapter 1. The Stories We Tell About Animals
Chapter 2. Variation Matters
Chapter 3. The Problems with Sex
Chapter 4. Queer Feminist Futures for Animal Sex Science
Chapter 5. You and Me, Us and Them
Chapter 6. Hiding in Plain Sight
Chapter 7. Breaking the Hierarchies that Bind
Epilogue: All That Can Change
Customer Reviews
Biography
Ambika Kamath is trained as a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist. She is a founding member of Liminal, a science communication collective. She lives in Oakland, California, on Ohlone land.
Melina Packer is Assistant Professor of Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, on Ho-Chunk Nation land. She is the author of Toxic Sexual Politics: Economic Poisons and Endocrine Disruptions.
New
By: Ambika Kamath(Author), Melina Packer(Author)
208 pages, 12 b/w illustrations
"I devoured this book in a day; it's a fascinating insight into the insidious effect of cultural bias. Smart and stimulating, Feminism in the Wild forces the reader to reconsider the lens through which we view the natural world. I highly recommend it."
– Lucy Cooke, zoologist; documentary filmmaker; author of Bitch: On the Female of the Species
"A wonderful exploration of animal biology using the power of interdisciplinary thinking. Rich in detail, it is funny, accessible, engaging, persuasive, and powerful. This is glorious storytelling and a tour de force!"
– Banu Subramaniam, Luella LaMer Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Wellesley College; author of The Botany of Empire and Ghost Stories for Darwin
"Feminism in the Wild brilliantly unravels the oppressive societal views entrenched in mainstream science, instead articulating an expansive scientific practice that feels not only ethical but liberatory. The most transformative scientific book I've ever read."
– Sabrina Imbler, science writer; author of How Far the Light Reaches
"A must-read for anyone working to understand our fellow creatures. Every chapter had me questioning assumptions, turning over paradigms, and – most of all – looking forward to what comes next."
– Cara Giaimo, science journalist; coauthor of Atlas Obscura: Wild Life
"Clear, engagingly written, and provocative. A worthy successor to Levins and Lewontin's The Dialectical Biologist."
– Jonathan Losos, William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in Saint Louis; author of The Age of Cats: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa
"Every student of animal behavior – from curious children to professional zoologists – should read this book. It makes plain the forces that have skewed our understanding of what animals do, and gives us a foundation upon which we can build a better science."
– Ed Yong, author of An Immense World and I Contain Multitudes
"The Dialectical Biologist meets Donna Haraway, rich with observation, Feminism in the Wild mobilizes feminist and queer challenges to scientific reductionism and conformism to reveal a lushly complex natural world. A book I've been waiting for."
– Gabriel Winant, Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago; author of The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America
"Bright, poetic, and bristling with possibility, Feminism in the Wild turns over the rock on traditional zoology to point out the remarkable things hidden beneath. This book is a revelatory, thought-provoking journey into how cultural assumptions shape our study of the natural world."
– Asher Elbein, author; science journalist
"If you're struggling to understand how human biases creep into science, or how to bring your feminist ideals into your scientific practice, Feminism in the Wild is the guidebook you need."
– Nicole C. Nelson, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison; author of Model Behavior: Animal Experiments, Complexity, and the Genetics of Psychiatric Disorders
"Feminism in the Wild does not provide easy answers but by moving across evolutionary biology, queer, and feminist studies, it opens your mind to new ways of thinking. An essential read for scholars interested in diverse approaches in biology."
– Damian Octavio Elias, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
"Kamath and Packer explore how science has long projected human norms onto animal behavior and use feminist, queer and disability theories to challenge this oppressive practice."
– Ms.
"A very important, fascinating, and wide-ranging book."
– Psychology Today
