Abstract
Many excellent builders can be found amongst birds. Their diverse forms of building depend on their needs, available construction materials, the local climate conditions, their predators and, of course, their genetic predispositions. In this chapter, we consider that each bird, in addition to the species-specific building choices, also makes individual craft decisions and is capable of learning to adapt to the changing environmental conditions. To illustrate this, we have selected three cases, each from one of the following bird species; the Bowerbird, the Malleefowl and the Sociable Weaver. These birds’ constructing is presented in the form of narratives crafted with “materials” from documentary films and scientific articles. In each of the three narratives, we assigned narrator voices to individuals from the three bird species. We imagined the world from each bird’s view, in hope of understanding how their building processes were related to aesthetic qualities, chemical processes and the security of their bird community. The main contribution of this chapter is the development of a trans-disciplinary research approach, based on eco-ethical perspectives. We believe that this specific approach has the capacity to: (1) illustrate how exquisite birds’ crafting skills are; (2) illuminate how birds’ crafting can be interpreted from many different theoretical perspectives, and (3) motivate the reader to recognise the interdependencies amongst more-than-humans. The chapter suggests that the specific narrative inquiry—namely, an eco-aesthetic mixed methodology—can be employed for pedagogical purposes, where it can support the nurturing of caring and compassionate attitudes towards other-than-humans and by doing so contribute to an expanded ecological awareness. The complex and advanced ways in which Bowerbirds, Malleefowls and Sociable Weavers construct, challenge human-centered postulated dualisms between human and nature, reason and emotions, body and mind.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
5050 Community (Producer). (2014). Sociable weaver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUnadxTA8iE&t=163s&ab_channel=5050Community
ABC News (Producer). (2018). Malleefowl rare footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVvKZpPlrh0&ab_channel=GeckosandGumLeaves
Ackerman, J. (2020). The bird way. A new look at how birds talk, work, play, parent, and think. Penguin Press.
Albrecht, G. A. (2019). Earth emotions. New words for a new world. Cornell University Press.
Attenborough, D. (Producer). (1998a). The life of birds: Episode 07 finding partners 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS_YT9U5MKU&ab_channel=MisterDonovanJensen
Attenborough, D. (Producer). (1998b). Social weaver birds nest in a tree in Africa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jPibkNv7lM&t=2s&ab_channel=BBCStudios
Aure, V. (2020). Exploring eco-social art strategies to expand onto-epistemological and methodological positions in qualitative research. In K. Bergaust, R. Smite, & D. Silina (Eds.), Oslofjord ecologies. Artistic research on environmental and social sustainability (pp. 135–152). Renewable Future 18(3). RIXC Center for New Media Culture and OsloMet.
BBC (Producer). (2015). Prieelvogel. National Geographic WILD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeWbbfiOzWk&ab_channel=FewCups
Bresler, L. (2006). Embodied narrative inquiry: A methodology of connection. Research Studies in Music Education, 27, 21–43.
Collias, N. E., & Collias, E. C. (1977). Weaverbird nest aggregation and evolution of the compound nest. The Auk Ornithological Advances, 94(1), 50–64. https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/94.1.50
Covas, R., du Plessis, M. A., & Doutrelant, C. (2008). Helpers in colonial cooperatively breeding Sociable Weavers Philetairus socius contribute to buffer the effects of adverse breeding conditions. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63, 103–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0640-2
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy? (H. Tomlinson & G. Burchell, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
Drenthen, M. (2017). Environmental hermeneutics and the meaning of nature. In S. M. Gardiner & A. Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of environmental ethics (pp. 162–173). Oxford University Press.
Dubois, P. J., & Rousseau, E. (2019). A short philosophy of birds. HarperCollins Publishers.
Endler, J. A., Gaburro, J., & Kelley, L. A. (2014). Visual effects in great bowerbird sexual displays and their implications for signal design. Royal Society, 281(1783). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0235
Gran, B. (2011). Making a ‘case’: Applying visual sociology to researching eminent domain. In E. Margolis & L. Pauwels (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of visual research methods (Chapter 35). Sage.
Hache, E. (2020). Making stories: Ecofeminist narratives and transformation of the world. In N. Blanc, T. Manola, & P. Degeorges (Eds.), Forms of experienced environments: Questioning relations between humans, aesthetics, and sciences (pp. 98–117). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Hall, Z. J., Meddle, S. L., & Healy, S. D. (2015). From neurons to nests: Nest-building behaviour as a model in behavioural and comparative neuroscience. Journal of Ornithology, 156, 133–143. Springerlink.com
Hansell, M. (2008). Built by animals: The natural history of animal architecture. Oxford University Press, Incorporated, ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy2.usn.no/lib/ucsn-ebooks/detail.action?docID=415139
Hansell, M., & Ruxton, G. D. (2008). Setting tool use within the context of animal construction behaviour. Opinion: Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 23(2), 73–78.
Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3178066
Haraway, D. (2016). Staying in the trouble. Makin kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.
Irvin, M. (2014). Saving our species—Malleefowl iconic species project. Paper presented at the 5th National Malleefowl Forum.
Kelley, L. A., & Endler, J. A. (2012). Male great bowerbirds create forced perspective illusions with consistently different individual quality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(51), 20980–20985. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1208350109
Kelley, L. A., & Endler, J. A. (2017). How do great bowerbirds construct perspective illusions? Royal Society Open Science, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160661
Krøger, E., Thorød, A. B., & Berget, B. (Eds.). (2018). Antrozoologi: Samspill mellom dyr og menneske [Anthrozoology: Interplay between animals and humans]. Universitetsforlaget.
Maclean, G. L. (1973). The sociable weaver, part 2: Nest architecture and social organization. Journal of African Ornithology, 44(3–4), 191–218.
Malone, K. (2016). Theorizing a child–dog encounter in the slums of La Paz using posthumanistic approaches in order to disrupt universalisms in current ‘child in nature’ debates. Children’s Geographies, 16(4), 390–407.
Martinelli, D. (2010). A critical companion to zoosemiotics people, paths, ideas. Springer.
Mertova, P., & Webster, L. (2020). Using narrative inquiry as a research method. An introduction to critical event narrative analysis in research, teaching and professional practice (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Nimmo, R. (2012). Animal cultures, subjectivity and knowledge: Symmetrical reflections beyond the great divide. Society & Animals, 20, 173–192.
Olinger, R. (Producer). (2018). Sociable weavers—A cooperative life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7_gp4XMRHA&ab_channel=RyanOlinger
Porter, R. (2009). Deleuze and Guattari: Aesthetics and politics. University of Wales press.
Ridges, M., Kelly, M., Simpson, G., Leys, J., Booth, S., Friedel, M., & Country, N. (2020). Understanding how Aboriginal culture can contribute to the resilient future of rangelands: The importance of Aboriginal core values. The Rangeland Journal, 42(5), 247–251. https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ20031
Stake, R. (2006). Multiple case study analysis. The Guilford Press.
Stake, R. (2010). Qualitative research: Studying how things work. Guilford Press.
Thomas, G. (2011). How to do your case study. Sage.
Ulmer, J. B. (2017). Posthumanism as research methodology: Inquiry in the Anthropocene. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(9), 832–848.
van Dijk, R. E., Kaden, J. C., Argüelles-Ticó, A., Beltran, L. M., Paquet, M., Covas, R., Doutrelant, C., & Hatchwell, B. J. (2013). The thermoregulatory benefits of the communal nest of sociable weavers Philetairus socius are spatially structured within nests. Journal of Avian Biology, 44, 102–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-048X.2012.05797.x
Von Frisch, K. (1974). Animal architecture. Harcourt.
WierdSquare (Producer). (2018). Interesting facts about malleefowl by weird square. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k-k2_sks7E&ab_channel=WeirdSquare
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Aure, V., Fredriksen, B.C. (2022). Crafting Stories with Birds’ Crafting: An Eco-Ethical Mixed Methodology. In: Fredriksen, B.C., Groth, C. (eds) Expanding Environmental Awareness in Education Through the Arts. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 33. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4855-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4855-8_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-4854-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-4855-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)