The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics

Reviews / Votes

"Through this study of how the different (nonhuman) ways other animals perceive the world (electroreception, thermoception, echolocation) and how these in turn shape the forms of their communication and persuasion, Parrish further extends the field of human-animal studies to communication. As it decenters human exceptionalism, the interface with 'animal rhetoric' has important implications for the ethics of our treatment of other animals." ( Kenneth Shapiro , Cofounder and President of the Board of the Animals & Society Institute, USA, and founding editor of Society & Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies )

"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)