| Abstrakt: |
Whitney Barlow Robles' book "Curious Species: How Animals Made Natural History" challenges the traditional narrative of Enlightenment natural history by focusing on four enigmatic animals - corals, rattlesnakes, fish, and raccoons - that disrupted taxonomies and hierarchies. Robles emphasizes the intellectual dynamism of eighteenth-century Earth science and the complex relationships between humans and animals. Through fieldwork excursions and reenactments, she explores the historical and environmental legacies of scientific knowledge production, highlighting the unresolved multispecies history that continues to impact our understanding of animal life and the environment. The book offers a nuanced perspective on the intersections of colonialism, science, and the natural world, inviting readers to reconsider the ways in which Enlightenment naturalists grappled with the complexities of the living world. [Extracted from the article] |
