Authors:
- Magnifies the communicative activities of rhetorical animals particularly as it relates to persuasion
- Describes the range of extra-sensory perceptions part of animal rhetorics
- Illustrates the limits of human exceptionalism and relying solely on culture to explain persuasive behavior in humans
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature (PSAAL)
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Study of Animal Rhetorics
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Front Matter
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The Senses We Think We Know
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Front Matter
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Extra-Sensory Rhetorics: Beyond the Human Sensorium
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Front Matter
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The Dangers of, and Alternatives to, Human Exceptionalism
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
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.
Reviews
“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 Fahnestock, 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)
Authors and Affiliations
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James Madison University, Harrisonburg, USA
Alex C. Parrish
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).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics
Book Subtitle: A Hoot in the Light
Authors: Alex C. Parrish
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76712-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-76711-2Published: 15 July 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-76714-3Published: 16 July 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-76712-9Published: 14 July 2021
Series ISSN: 2634-6338
Series E-ISSN: 2634-6346
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 349
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Literature, general, Literary Theory, Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science, Cognitive Psychology, Historical Linguistics