Elephant 2

The first article I will be looking at is by John Berger “Why Look at Animals?” I chose this article as the first to use as a source for this paper because the course is called “The Anthropology of Animals” and of all the readings I thought this one essentially asked in its title what I thought when I signed up for the course. This article in my opinion addresses the importance animals have played in the development of the human race. Berger also addresses the relationship or interaction humans had with animals in the past and currently.  Berger starts by talking about the “rupture” of man from nature that is present today in Europe and North America that is the norm of modernity and as a bi-product of corporate capitalism of the twentieth-century (Berger, p. 252). Prior to modernity and corporate capitalism man and animals were at the centre of man’s world together. The relationship that man had with animals was one where man depended on animals for much more than just food, man depended on animals for work, clothing and transportation. Berger argues that man and animal are both unlike and like each other. They are both sentient beings and are mortal alike (Berger, p. 252). Berger draws to attention that the only difference that distinguishes man from animal is  “the human capacity for symbolic thought, the capacity which was inseparable from the development of language in which words were not mere signals, but signifiers of something other than themselves. Yet the first symbols were animals. What distinguished men from animals was born of their relationship with them” (Berger, p.254). Berger’s article draws on the works from scholars such as Levi-Strauss, Evans- Pritchard, and Aristotle to name a few. Berger uses the writings of these learned scholars to support his argument that man and animals have had a long history together and depending on the culture animal and man were equal. Berger used Descartes’ argument that animals are not the same as man or is different because they do not have a soul to impart address the different arguments by scholars on the issue of man ascension above or over the other animals. Basically depending on the culture animals are seen as equal to man or man and animals were at one point one, or man and animals were dependent on each other and had a symbiotic relationship.

The next source for this paper is by Peter Singer and his paper titled “Animal Liberation or Animal Rights?” I decided to use this article because I feel it is very relevant not just to the course in general when the human animal interaction or relation is discuss but also because this paper is looking at the elephant and how humans interact with these animals and as such animal rights or liberation could be call into question. This article by Singer is basically a response to another author who implores the use of the words ‘Animal Rights” rather than “Animal Liberation”. From the onset it is clear that singer believes there to be a specific reasoning behind his choice of words used i.e. liberation. He is not arguing with Tom Regan about the rights or liberation of animals, that they seem to be on the same page, what Singer argues is that undoubtedly animals have rights just as humans do. Singer argues with the idea of human beings that are treated differently because of their perceived inherent utility value. Singer argues that that application of utility cannot be used or the application of belonging to the same specie as that is the same as racism. Singer argues that the only logical way to look at the issue if that of living sentient beings. And therefore if humans are living creatures and have rights that allow their liberation then the same has to be applied to other living creatures and therefore animals not only have the same rights as humans but deserve the same application of liberation.

The following article by Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason and Susan McCarthy called “Greif, Sadness, and The Bones of Elephants” was chosen because it further argues along with my two previous choice the issue of human animal difference or similarities and that animals like humans share the same basic emotional experiences of love, suffering, sadness, and other experiences same as humans. This article therefore contributes to the debate of human animal question. Mason and McCarthy drew on the writings and accounts of other authors who describe visible signs and display of what would normally be considered human emotions. Greif, sadness, loneliness, mourning and even depression. Mason and McCarthy told many stories of animals both in and out of captivity that developed bonds and experienced loss when separated from their companion with whom the bond was shared. The accounts my the story tellers or writers used by Mason and McCarthy describe such pain and loss that it is undeniable that what is described is the same feelings that a human who experience in the same situation and hence this piece of work directly relates to the previous two articles as they touch on animal rights and liberation and the treatment of animals this article would tend to give support to the previous two as proof observed that animals are sentient beings and should be treated as such.

The source I chose to use in the paper is a newspaper article from the Toronto Star by Rachel Mendelson aptly titled “What’s best for Aging Limba?” This is an article I thought not only contribute to my topic but also directly relates to the previous articles used as sources. This article is about a 50 year old “lanky” speckled trunk female elephant that resides at the Bowmanville zoo that also happens to be the oldest elephant in Canada. This article, in my opinion, attempts at the very least to join and at most contribute to the conversation regarding the treatment of elephants and other animals in captivity. The article talks of the protestors who are against the continued captivity of Limba and trying to appeal to her owner’s sense of compassion. Mendelson also talks of what really happens in the training of an elephant to get it to become a performing elephant. She uses the contribution of a US based wild animal health consultant who advises that to train an elephant is to brake its spirit and the tools and methods used are no different than holding a gun to a humans’ head. This article I believe also points to the relationship that animals develop relationships often not with their own. Apparently Limba was kept in isolation for many years and when she arrived at the Bowmanville zoo she was unable to interact with the other elephants that were already at the zoo. At first they had thought that integrating her with the other elephants would be best for her and would help heal her from a clearly visible depressive state however interaction with the other elephants did not help. What helped Limba was her interaction with her owner’s baby son.  That interaction with the baby is what healed her broken spirit. Again the argument of an animal able to experience the feelings that is common with humans.

The last source being used is the book by Daniel Wylie “Elephant”. I chose this book because it seems to be a great resource for looking at elephants on a whole. The main reason I chose the book was chapter 3 titled “Representing Elephants”. The book goes into the history of the animal from pre-historic times and what mammals and mastodons they would be considered related to where they originated (Africa). For that reason alone the book is extremely insightful, however my reasons for using the book was a bit more on the perception of the animal and how it has become a commercialized animal. Wylie points out that no matter the far reaches of the world where elephants have not been physically there can be found art or some other depiction of elephant Wylie in this chapter addresses the commercialization of the elephant. He writes that except for dogs, cats, and horses no other mammals have been so extensively represented in renderings of the animal world. To point out how massive the market for elephant collectibles are he mentions that a collector who wrote his own encyclopedia on elephant collectible found over “3000 elephant artifacts for sale on eBay in a single week”. The collectibles for elephants runs the gamut from bronze statues to plastic toys. Wyle writes from early on in the book of carvings on rock face in caves by Bushmen estimated to be thousands of years old.  In essence it seems that humans have depicted elephants for thousands of years. Humans undoubtedly have idolized elephants and that is reflected in many paintings, statues, documentaries etc. that have in one way or another depicted the mighty animal.