Overview

In pursuit of moments of feeling 'sharply alive', confronting fear of the body's betrayals, and roaming across Wales, Scotland, California and the Middle East, Birdsplaining is focused unapologetically on the uniqueness of women's experience of nature and constraints placed upon it. Sometimes bristling, always ethical, it upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world. -- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru

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9781913830168

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Reviews

"A wren in the house foretells a death, while a tech-loving parrot aids a woman's recovery. Crows' misbehaviour suggests how the 'natural' order, ranked by men, may be challenged. A blur of bunting above an unassuming bog raises questions about how nature reserves were chosen. Should the oriole be named 'green' or golden? The flaws of field guides across decades prove that this is a feminist issue. A buzzard, scavenging a severed ewe’s leg, teaches taboos about curiosity. Whose poo is the mammal scat uncovered in the attic, and should the swallows make their home inside yours? The nightjar's churring brings on unease at racism and privilege dividing nature lovers, past and present. The skin of a Palestine sunbird provokes concern at the colonial origins of ornithology. And when a sparrowhawk makes a move on a murmuration, the starlings show how threat – in the shape of flood, climate change or illness – may be faced down. Jasmine Donahaye is in pursuit of feeling 'sharply alive', understanding things on her own terms and undoing old lessons about how to behave. Here, she finally confronts fear: of violence and of the body's betrayals, daring at last, to 'get things wrong'. Roaming across Wales, Scotland, California and the Middle East, she is unapologetically focused on the uniqueness of women's experience of nature and the constraints placed upon it. Sometimes bristling, always ethical, Birdsplaining upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world. Birdsplaining: A Note Before Reading 1. Reading the Signs 2. Field Guides 3. Mansplaining the Wild 4. Boggy Ground 5. Curious Bodies 6. Uninvited Guests 7. Meetings at Dusk 8. What's in a Name? 9. The Promise of Puffins 10. To Gawp at Birds 11. The Regard of Equals 12. Gannets 13. Risk Assessment 14. An Unkindness to Birdwatchers Notes and Bibliographical Details Jasmine Donahaye's work has appeared in the New York Times and The Guardian, and her documentary, 'Statue No 1', was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her books include the memoir, Losing Israel (2015), winner of the nonfiction category in the Wales Book of the Year award; a biography of author Lily Tobias, The Greatest Need (2015), the basis for 'O Ystalyfera i Israel', broadcast by S4C; the cultural study Whose People? Wales, Israel, Palestine (2012), and two collections of poetry: Misappropriations (2006) and Self-Portrait as Ruth (2009). She is a part-time professor of Creative Writing at Swansea University, and a fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. ""Jasmine Donahaye is the thinking person's birder. She forensically dismantles romantic cliches in nature writing and produces a fresh, modern account of her life in and out of nature"" – Gwyneth Lewis ""Vivid, quick and iridescent, Birdsplaining is an absolute kingfisher of a book"" – Mike Parker ""In fracturing, polarised times we need writing like this, that has the breadth and honesty to grasp it whole"" – Philip Gross ""Donahaye… invents a new, feminist springboard for observing the way birds live their lives and the way we perceive them. Sharp, fiercely intelligent, courageous"" – Pamela Petro ""Donahaye dilates poetic moments while also examining what we have internalised about privilege and power in the field of birdwatching. I loved it"" – Kathryn Aalto 'An erudite, bold, questing and valid collection of beautifully written essays. Whilst one eye stays focused on the injustices and cruelties of the world, the other gulps in its jewels and preciousness. Moving, stirring, and vital' Niall Griffiths 'A curiosity and passion so unapologetically alive that her words form wings' Lotte Williams, Nation.Cymru 'Upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world — and in doing so, creates its own ecological niche' Karen Lloyd, Caught by the River 'Superb… by turns moving, funny, illuminating… and… thought-provoking' Katherine Stansfield, GoodReads 'Neither human-centred nor its opposite. Although she explores human grief, violence and recovery, Donahaye also has a beautifully conveyed passion for the unromantic aspects of the environment.... She bridges the very gap [in nature writing] that she identifies.' Saskia McCracken, The Welsh Agenda ‘Whilst birds might not provide the answer to the meaning of life for Donahaye, they do have a part to play in finding meaning IN life, whether that be through personal symbolism and anecdotal encounters, or in larger questions about power and responsibility.’ Gwales.com 'A fresh way of looking at nature writing, a deeply personal account that embraces its own subjectivity' Zoe Kramer, Wales Arts Review 'There are plenty of women who are deeply ""in tune"" [with the natural world] in this collection. Donahaye’s essays let us meet women who have a deep understanding of land and animal management, and who revel in adventurous pursuits.... This is a beautiful collection where the nonhuman appears as a close neighbour.... [and which] searches for hope and resilience in times of risk.' Yvonne Reddick, New Welsh Reader -- Publisher: New Welsh Review A book with such an intriguing title as Birdsplaining lends itself to a foreword from the author, and Jasmine Donahaye provides this very helpfully. In what could be read as a ‘field guide’ note for an expedition setting out to explore the wonders of the pages which follow, Donahaye states, ‘Birds explain nothing to me.’ An arresting opening, and one which sets the tone for what follows in this moving, funny, and at all times deeply thought-provoking collection of essays on the relationship between human beings and the natural world, and the nature of writing about nature. As the reader discovers, whilst birds might not provide the answer to the meaning of life for Donahaye, they do have a part to play in finding meaning in life, whether that be through personal symbolism and anecdotal encounters, or in larger questions about power and responsibility. The foreword goes on to say, ‘in some of these essays I react to privilege and power exercising its prerogative to talk over, talk down to, and explain others’ experience for them, and to disregard others’ expertise. “Birdsplaining” as a term can represent how that plays out in the world of birdwatching. But I have tried to put the birdsplaining to a more constructive use as well, exploring birds as a means of understanding social relationships and human relationships to the living world of which we are a part’. It’s a framework which proves immensely stimulating and flexible, and the essays in Birdsplaining explore a wide range of subjects from imaginative and fresh angles. In ‘Uninvited Guests’, a plumber finds polecat poo in Donahaye’s attic, which leads to a meditation on the ways different creatures (including humans) find and make homes, and what this means in changing environments, such as the conversion of rural outbuildings reducing breeding environments for swallows. This essay moves into consideration of solitude and barriers, as well as what it means to let nature into our homes. ‘Meetings at Dusk’ describes a cold encounter with a family while seeking nightjars in a forested area. This in turn prompts examination of what the intersection of race and rural space reveals about identity and belonging: ‘to be brown in a rural place is to be asked implicitly or explicitly what you’re doing there, to give an account of where you’re from, to be told you don’t belong’. Birdsplaining is also an excellent guide to current debates in nature writing as well as the legacy of how nature has been written about in the past and who was doing the writing. Among many fascinating and important subjects, the essays explore how landscape and myth interact in children’s fantasy novels of the 1970s, gendered bird identification guides, and the honorific system of naming birds which immortalises racist colonial collectors while erasing the knowledge and labour of local people who made such collecting possible. The essays interrogate different approaches to being in the natural world too, including the value placed on ‘wild’ encounters versus those ‘managed’ by the conservation movement, such as the Dyfi Osprey Project or guided bird walks. Donahaye never lets herself off the hook in these interrogations, sharply aware of her own belief systems and some of the tensions they produce. But that’s what this book is about in many ways. The subtitle of Birdsplaining is ‘a natural history’; it’s the story of a life, a personal history, through encounters with the natural world, but it’s also a history of these encounters. The organisation of thought in these essays is extremely elegant. Each has its own flight path: picking up and setting down ideas; riffing on names, places, histories; and making connections between ideas in startling ways. The parallel with birdwatching is resonant: ‘You look, all the time – scanning sky and sere hillside and the water’s edge, scanning all the time – looking, looking for, but at the same time also looking slant’. The essays prove satisfying when read individually, as stand-alone entities, the idea in each one shaped with precision. An account of getting ‘caught short’ while on Tregaron Bog seeking warblers is very funny: ‘I can hardly tell a pipit from a bunting, the urgency of finding a toilet is becoming so great’. But read from start to finish, themes emerge and develop in fascinating ways: the loss of a sister, the ‘protected area of wilderness’ that is the human body, domestic violence, fear and safety, how space in the natural world is accessed and experienced by different communities, and above all what it means to be a woman in the natural world, and in the world of nature writing. -- Katherine Stansfield @ www.gwales.com"

A wren in the house foretells a death, while a tech-loving parrot aids a woman's recovery. Crows' misbehaviour suggests how the 'natural' order, ranked by men, may be challenged. A blur of bunting above an unassuming bog raises questions about how nature reserves were chosen. Should the oriole be named 'green' or golden? The flaws of field guides across decades prove that this is a feminist issue. A buzzard, scavenging a severed ewe's leg, teaches taboos about curiosity. Whose poo is the mammal scat uncovered in the attic, and should the swallows make their home inside yours? The nightjar's churring brings on unease at racism and privilege dividing nature lovers, past and present. The skin of a Palestine sunbird provokes concern at the colonial origins of ornithology. And when a sparrowhawk makes a move on a murmuration, the starlings show how threat - in the shape of flood, climate change or illness - may be faced down. Jasmine Donahaye is in pursuit of feeling 'sharply alive', understanding things on her own terms and undoing old lessons about how to behave. Here, she finally confronts fear: of violence and of the body's betrayals, daring at last, to 'get things wrong'. Roaming across Wales, Scotland, California and the Middle East, she is unapologetically focused on the uniqueness of women's experience of nature and the constraints placed upon it. Sometimes bristling, always ethical, Birdsplaining upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world. Birdsplaining: A Note Before Reading 1. Reading the Signs 2. Field Guides 3. Mansplaining the Wild 4. Boggy Ground 5. Curious Bodies 6. Uninvited Guests 7. Meetings at Dusk 8. What's in a Name? 9. The Promise of Puffins 10. To Gawp at Birds 11. The Regard of Equals 12. Gannets 13. Risk Assessment 14. An Unkindness to Birdwatchers Notes and Bibliographical Details Jasmine Donahaye's work has appeared in the New York Times and The Guardian, and her documentary, 'Statue No 1', was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her books include the memoir, Losing Israel (2015), winner of the nonfiction category in the Wales Book of the Year award; a biography of author Lily Tobias, The Greatest Need (2015), the basis for 'O Ystalyfera i Israel', broadcast by S4C; the cultural study Whose People? Wales, Israel, Palestine (2012), and two collections of poetry: Misappropriations (2006) and Self-Portrait as Ruth (2009). She is a part-time professor of Creative Writing at Swansea University, and a fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. Jasmine Donahaye is the thinking person's birder. She forensically dismantles romantic cliches in nature writing and produces a fresh, modern account of her life in and out of nature - Gwyneth Lewis Vivid, quick and iridescent, Birdsplaining is an absolute kingfisher of a book - Mike Parker In fracturing, polarised times we need writing like this, that has the breadth and honesty to grasp it whole - Philip Gross Donahaye... invents a new, feminist springboard for observing the way birds live their lives and the way we perceive them. Sharp, fiercely intelligent, courageous - Pamela Petro Donahaye dilates poetic moments while also examining what we have internalised about privilege and power in the field of birdwatching. I loved it - Kathryn Aalto 'An erudite, bold, questing and valid collection of beautifully written essays. Whilst one eye stays focused on the injustices and cruelties of the world, the other gulps in its jewels and preciousness. Moving, stirring, and vital' Niall Griffiths 'A curiosity and passion so unapologetically alive that her words form wings' Lotte Williams, Nation.Cymru 'Upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world - and in doing so, creates its own ecological niche' Karen Lloyd, Caught by the River 'Superb... by turns moving, funny, illuminating... and... thought-provoking' Katherine Stansfield, GoodReads -- Publisher: New Welsh Review A book with such an intriguing title as Birdsplaining lends itself to a foreword from the author, and Jasmine Donahaye provides this very helpfully. In what could be read as a 'field guide' note for an expedition setting out to explore the wonders of the pages which follow, Donahaye states, 'Birds explain nothing to me.' An arresting opening, and one which sets the tone for what follows in this moving, funny, and at all times deeply thought-provoking collection of essays on the relationship between human beings and the natural world, and the nature of writing about nature. As the reader discovers, whilst birds might not provide the answer to the meaning of life for Donahaye, they do have a part to play in finding meaning in life, whether that be through personal symbolism and anecdotal encounters, or in larger questions about power and responsibility. The foreword goes on to say, 'in some of these essays I react to privilege and power exercising its prerogative to talk over, talk down to, and explain others' experience for them, and to disregard others' expertise. Birdsplaining as a term can represent how that plays out in the world of birdwatching. But I have tried to put the birdsplaining to a more constructive use as well, exploring birds as a means of understanding social relationships and human relationships to the living world of which we are a part'. It's a framework which proves immensely stimulating and flexible, and the essays in Birdsplaining explore a wide range of subjects from imaginative and fresh angles. In 'Uninvited Guests', a plumber finds polecat poo in Donahaye's attic, which leads to a meditation on the ways different creatures (including humans) find and make homes, and what this means in changing environments, such as the conversion of rural outbuildings reducing breeding environments for swallows. This essay moves into consideration of solitude and barriers, as well as what it means to let nature into our homes. 'Meetings at Dusk' describes a cold encounter with a family while seeking nightjars in a forested area. This in turn prompts examination of what the intersection of race and rural space reveals about identity and belonging: 'to be brown in a rural place is to be asked implicitly or explicitly what you're doing there, to give an account of where you're from, to be told you don't belong'. Birdsplaining is also an excellent guide to current debates in nature writing as well as the legacy of how nature has been written about in the past and who was doing the writing. Among many fascinating and important subjects, the essays explore how landscape and myth interact in children's fantasy novels of the 1970s, gendered bird identification guides, and the honorific system of naming birds which immortalises racist colonial collectors while erasing the knowledge and labour of local people who made such collecting possible. The essays interrogate different approaches to being in the natural world too, including the value placed on 'wild' encounters versus those 'managed' by the conservation movement, such as the Dyfi Osprey Project or guided bird walks. Donahaye never lets herself off the hook in these interrogations, sharply aware of her own belief systems and some of the tensions they produce. But that's what this book is about in many ways. The subtitle of Birdsplaining is 'a natural history'; it's the story of a life, a personal history, through encounters with the natural world, but it's also a history of these encounters. The organisation of thought in these essays is extremely elegant. Each has its own flight path: picking up and setting down ideas; riffing on names, places, histories; and making connections between ideas in startling ways. The parallel with birdwatching is resonant: 'You look, all the time - scanning sky and sere hillside and the water's edge, scanning all the time - looking, looking for, but at the same time also looking slant'. The essays prove satisfying when read individually, as stand-alone entities, the idea in each one shaped with precision. An account of getting 'caught short' while on Tregaron Bog seeking warblers is very funny: 'I can hardly tell a pipit from a bunting, the urgency of finding a toilet is becoming so great'. But read from start to finish, themes emerge and develop in fascinating ways: the loss of a sister, the 'protected area of wilderness' that is the human body, domestic violence, fear and safety, how space in the natural world is accessed and experienced by different communities, and above all what it means to be a woman in the natural world, and in the world of nature writing. -- Katherine Stansfield @ www.gwales.com

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