“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland
The pages of early modern natural histories expose the plasticity of the natural world, and the variegated nature of the encounter between human and animal in this period. Descriptions of the flora and fauna reflect this kind of negotiated encounter between the world that is seen, that which is hear...
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 |
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-2615/10/11/2024/ 2023-08-20T04:06:53+02:00 “None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland Helen Parish agris 2020-11-03 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Human-Animal Interactions, Animal Behaviour and Emotion https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animals; Volume 10; Issue 11; Pages: 2024 animals natural history missionaries observation encounter ethnography authorial voice social networks Text 2020 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 2023-08-01T00:24:06Z The pages of early modern natural histories expose the plasticity of the natural world, and the variegated nature of the encounter between human and animal in this period. Descriptions of the flora and fauna reflect this kind of negotiated encounter between the world that is seen, that which is heard about, and that which is constructed from the language of the sacred text of scripture. The natural histories of Greenland that form the basis of this analysis exemplify the complexity of human–animal encounters in this period, and the intersections that existed between natural and unnatural, written authority and personal testimony, and culture, belief, and ethnography in natural histories. They invite a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which animals and people interact in the making of culture, and demonstrate the contribution made by such texts to the study of animal encounters, cultures, and concepts. This article explores the intersection between natural history and the work of Christian mission in the eighteenth century, and the connections between personal encounter, ethnography, history, and oral and written tradition. The analysis demonstrates that European natural histories continued to be anthropocentric in content and tone, the product of what was believed, as much as what was seen. Text Greenland MDPI Open Access Publishing Greenland Animals 10 11 2024 |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
animals natural history missionaries observation encounter ethnography authorial voice social networks |
spellingShingle |
animals natural history missionaries observation encounter ethnography authorial voice social networks Helen Parish “None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland |
topic_facet |
animals natural history missionaries observation encounter ethnography authorial voice social networks |
description |
The pages of early modern natural histories expose the plasticity of the natural world, and the variegated nature of the encounter between human and animal in this period. Descriptions of the flora and fauna reflect this kind of negotiated encounter between the world that is seen, that which is heard about, and that which is constructed from the language of the sacred text of scripture. The natural histories of Greenland that form the basis of this analysis exemplify the complexity of human–animal encounters in this period, and the intersections that existed between natural and unnatural, written authority and personal testimony, and culture, belief, and ethnography in natural histories. They invite a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which animals and people interact in the making of culture, and demonstrate the contribution made by such texts to the study of animal encounters, cultures, and concepts. This article explores the intersection between natural history and the work of Christian mission in the eighteenth century, and the connections between personal encounter, ethnography, history, and oral and written tradition. The analysis demonstrates that European natural histories continued to be anthropocentric in content and tone, the product of what was believed, as much as what was seen. |
format |
Text |
author |
Helen Parish |
author_facet |
Helen Parish |
author_sort |
Helen Parish |
title |
“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland |
title_short |
“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland |
title_full |
“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland |
title_fullStr |
“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland |
title_sort |
“none of them could say they ever had seen them, but only had it from others”: encounters with animals in eighteenth-century natural histories of greenland |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_source |
Animals; Volume 10; Issue 11; Pages: 2024 |
op_relation |
Human-Animal Interactions, Animal Behaviour and Emotion https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112024 |
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Animals |
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10 |
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11 |
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2024 |
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1774718245734973440 |