ERIC Number: EJ883950
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0270-4676
EISSN: N/A
Making Meaning out of Human/Animal: Scientific Competition of Classifications in the Spanish Legislature
Mitchell, Ross
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, v30 n3 p205-213 2010
In the summer of 2008, the Spanish legislature resolved to grant great apes (though not all simians) basic human rights. While the decision to grant such rights came about largely through the lobbying efforts of the Great Ape Project (GAP), the decision has potential reverberations throughout the scientific world and beyond in its implications for shaping determinations of "what is human." Such implications do not appear to be lost on various groupings of scientists who have spoken about their opinions about the case and the project in general. These groupings of scientists, I argue, using the work of Mary Douglas and others, can be compared to "tribes" actively advancing and defending their classifications of the "human" in a bid for a retention or expansion of power. (Contains 24 notes.)
Descriptors: Lobbying, Scientists, Primatology, Civil Rights, Animals, Classification, Foreign Countries, Ethnology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand; Spain
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A