Remembering Frans de Waal: The father of (the term) anthropodenial
A Skaana Flashback Interview with author and ethologist Frans de Waal (Oct. 29, 1948- March 14, 2024)
Author Frans de Waal was a master at making humans think about - and empathize with - other species. Especially apes. One of my pandemic highlights - and all-time favourite Skaana interviews - was Zooming with the author of Mama’s Last Hug and hearing him explain a term and concept he’d coined that rocked my world: anthropodenial.
If you don’t know what the term means, I take my best shot at an explanation below. Though I hope you’ll listen to his explanation - which kicks off our interview.
When I was writing a book about orcas for young readers - Orcas Everywhere - I asked my editor if there was any way I could use a word that was long and complicated in a text for middle school. The answer… as long as I could use smaller words to explain it. I took my best shot. I’m convinced that combatting anthropodenial is one of the keys to protecting the other animals we share the planet with.
de Waal died last week at the age of 75. Here’s the official memorial notice from his university - Emory: Emory primatologist Frans de Waal remembered for bringing apes ‘a little closer to humans’
And here’s our conversation on Skaana:
And… Explaining Anthropodenial from my book Orcas Everywhere - The Mystery and History of Killer Whales
Orca Book Publishers
WHALES ARE PEOPLE (OR PERSONS) TOO
There are two words that come up all the time when discussing our relationship with animals. And you need to know these words to understand an all-new word that I love.
Anthrop is Latin for “human.” Adding an o on the end of the word to create anthropo translates as “humanlike.”Anthropology is the study of human societies.
Anthropocentrism is the belief that humans are the rock stars of all living things. This is not exactly the dictionary definition, but basically it’s the belief that WE RULE!
The book of Genesis says God gave man dominion over all other living things. How you interpret this depends on how you define dominion. Some people translate it as “responsibility for.” Most people believe it means “owner-ship of,” which is where some people get the idea that animals exist just for us.
Anthropomorphizing means thinking a god, animal or thing has emotions or experiences similar to ours. So suggesting a whale can sing, an ape can laugh or a dog can be sad is anthropomorphizing. This is considered extremely unscientific. When a scientist says someone is anthropomorphizing, they are almost always dissing them.
Giving an animal a human name is often considered anthropomorphizing or humanizing. It is also a key to getting humans to care about animals, since people are more likely to fall in love with Ocean Sun or Granny than L25 or J2.
One of the first things humans do when we want to devalue someone is take away their names. That’s why people in jail have their names replaced by numbers.
I anthropomorphize. A lot.
I think orcas dance, humpbacks sing and animals of all types feel emotions—or something similar enough that we shouldn’t have to make up new words so we can pretend their experiences are alien. I think anyone who doesn’t believe animals have feelings, emotions or intelligence is suffering from anthropodenial.
Anthropodenial means that anyone who doesn’t get that animals have feelings, emotions or intelligence isn’t paying attention. This word was created in 2001 by Frans de Waal, a scientist studying monkeys. He defined it as “a blindness to the human-like characteristics of other animals, or the animal-like characteristics of ourselves.”
This is a form of reality blindness that does not seem to affect any Indigenous cultures anywhere.
Here’s the audiobook on audible
And on Spotify:
If you’d like to check out my non-ocean related work here’s my most recent personal Substack.