Vinciane Despret - Living as a Bird

1 Cover

2 Title Page Living as a Bird Vinciane Despret Translated by Helen Morrison polity

3 Copyright Originally published in French as Habiter en oiseau © Actes Sud, France, 2019 This English edition © Polity Press, 2022 Epigraph from Nous sommes à la lisière by Caroline Lamarche © Gallimard 2019. Reprinted with kind permission of Gallimard. Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4728-9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Despret, Vinciane, author. | Morrison, Helen (Langauge translator), translator. Title: Living as a bird / Vinciane Despret ; translated by Helen Morrison. Other titles: Habiter en oiseau. English Description: Cambridge ; Medford, MA : Polity Press, [2021] | “Originally published in French as Habiter en oiseau © Actes Sud, France, 2019.” | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2021016407 (print) | LCCN 2021016408 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509547265 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509547272 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509547289 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Birds--Territoriality. | Birds--Behavior. | Birds--Research. | Territoriality (Zoology)--Philosophy. Classification: LCC QL678 .D4713 2021 (print) | LCC QL678 (ebook) | DDC 598--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016407 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016408 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

4 Dedication Dedication For Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour and Isabelle Stengers

5 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements My thanks to: Alexandra Elbakyan, whose tireless work in sharing and making available countless scientific articles made this research possible. Stéphane Durand, who gave me the idea for this book, encouraged, supported, commented on and read my work with extraordinary generosity. Baptiste Morizot, who gave the book its title, its momentum and many more invaluable things besides. Marcos Matteos Dias for the melodic breathing. Thibault De Meyer for everything he shares with me, for his notes which so pertinently understand and help others understand what matters, for his emails and his generous rereading. Maud Hagelstein, not only for reading the manuscript with such extraordinary attention but especially for her enthusiasm and support, so precious in that perilous moment when you find yourself wondering if you should even have written it. Isabelle Stengers, from the very beginning to the very last lines. All the people who agreed to discuss my research and who often made me see things in an unexpected light: Serge Gutwirth and his team of researchers on ‘ commonings ’; my colleagues from the research centre ‘Matérialités de la politique’ at Liège University – in particular Florence Caeymaex, Édouard Delruelle, Jérôme Flas, Antoine Janvier and Ferhat Taylan; Sophie Houdart, Marc Boissenade, Élisabeth Claverie, Patricia Falguières, Élisabeth Lebovici from the Call it Anything collective; Tomas Saraceno, Ally Bisshop and Filipa Ramos. Pauline Bastin and her decoys, Laurent Jacob, who reminded me about the disappearance of birds, for their welcome and their company. Laurence Bouquiaux and Julien Pieron, for their interest and their friendship. Roger Delcommune, Christophe and Céline Caron, Samuel Lemaire and Cindy Colette, and Lola Deloeuvre who, in one way or another, made my life, and Alba’s, so very much more comfortable while I was working. My family, Jean Marie Lemaire, Jules-Vincent, Sarah and Elioth Buono-Lemaire, Samuel and Cindy once again, who supported me and reminded me that life is about more than just writing. And Alba, for her infinite patience.

6 First Chord FIRST CHORD Counterpoint Notes Chapter 1: Territories Notes Counterpoint Notes Chapter 2: The Power to Affect Notes Counterpoint Notes Chapter 3: Overpopulation Notes Counterpoint Notes

7 Second Chord Counterpoint Notes Chapter 4: Possessions Notes Counterpoint Notes Chapter 5: Aggression Notes Counterpoint Notes Chapter 6: Polyphonic Scores Notes Counterpoint Notes

8 Postscripts A Poetic of Attention – Stéphane Durand‘Slow down: work in progress’ In praise of slowing down Gathering up the Knowledge which has Fallen from the Nest – Baptiste Morizot Notes

9 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Title Page

4 Copyright

5 Dedication

6 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements My thanks to: Alexandra Elbakyan, whose tireless work in sharing and making available countless scientific articles made this research possible. Stéphane Durand, who gave me the idea for this book, encouraged, supported, commented on and read my work with extraordinary generosity. Baptiste Morizot, who gave the book its title, its momentum and many more invaluable things besides. Marcos Matteos Dias for the melodic breathing. Thibault De Meyer for everything he shares with me, for his notes which so pertinently understand and help others understand what matters, for his emails and his generous rereading. Maud Hagelstein, not only for reading the manuscript with such extraordinary attention but especially for her enthusiasm and support, so precious in that perilous moment when you find yourself wondering if you should even have written it. Isabelle Stengers, from the very beginning to the very last lines. All the people who agreed to discuss my research and who often made me see things in an unexpected light: Serge Gutwirth and his team of researchers on ‘ commonings ’; my colleagues from the research centre ‘Matérialités de la politique’ at Liège University – in particular Florence Caeymaex, Édouard Delruelle, Jérôme Flas, Antoine Janvier and Ferhat Taylan; Sophie Houdart, Marc Boissenade, Élisabeth Claverie, Patricia Falguières, Élisabeth Lebovici from the Call it Anything collective; Tomas Saraceno, Ally Bisshop and Filipa Ramos. Pauline Bastin and her decoys, Laurent Jacob, who reminded me about the disappearance of birds, for their welcome and their company. Laurence Bouquiaux and Julien Pieron, for their interest and their friendship. Roger Delcommune, Christophe and Céline Caron, Samuel Lemaire and Cindy Colette, and Lola Deloeuvre who, in one way or another, made my life, and Alba’s, so very much more comfortable while I was working. My family, Jean Marie Lemaire, Jules-Vincent, Sarah and Elioth Buono-Lemaire, Samuel and Cindy once again, who supported me and reminded me that life is about more than just writing. And Alba, for her infinite patience.

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8 End User License Agreement

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