Bringing Together A Family

"An Elephant Crackup" by Charles Siebert is an essay which delves into the struggle between elephants and human beings and the steps which are being taken to strengthen their bonds. The Sheldrick Trust was established as a rehabilitation center where elephants and humans could become closer through shared experiences and love. Through this process humans and elephants become something of a family to one another. To the elephants, humans became their “allomothers”. Rehabilitation has placed those of these species involved in this process, in a new close knit family. Through love and care these beings have created something more than what they had before. They created an “interspecies culture”. It is more complex and vast than any of their cultures alone. This new culture has come from the best of both their worlds as the foundation of this new “family” which both humans and elephants can be a part of. Elephants and humans were already in many aspects similar, but now being part an “interspecies” family has just fortified this claim.

Beyond Anthropocentrism

Analyzing Charles Siebert's observations based on this passage, he explains how the Sheldrick Trust and the sanctuary have found ways to improve the close knit elephant society as well as the elephant-human relationship. The trust rehabiliated 60 of these elephants and reunited them with their allomothers, which brings about a closer relationship between elephants. The rehabiltation of elephants by the trust has also significantly impacted the human-elephant relationship in a positive way. Since we were able to exhibit empathy and affection and think beyond an anthropocentic frame of reference, we can now, as Bradshaw exclaims, "participate actively in the healing of both themselves and nonhuman animals". We were able to think in thier point of view and interact with them as if they were human by preserving our self-image and adopting a "trans-species psyche". The relationship between humans and elephants is gradually increasing due to the shift in our mindset and views. The concept of extended family plays a siginificant role in elephant culture which allows us to question our motives and views of our culture as well. We can learn the different aspects of the culture from each other and use this knowledge to cultivate a positive relationship, only if we apply a different mindset and go beyond an anthropocentric approach.

Culture Clash

Siebert implies that humans and animals are equivalent to one another. He then further discusses the concept of an “interspecies culture.” A culture pertains to a certain species, its traditions, values, etc. OED defines culture as “the cultivation or development of the mind, faculties, manners, etc.; improvement by education and training.” Humans differ from animals in their train of thoughts, actions, language, and behavior. Although there may be similarities between elephants and humans, there is still a culture clash. Siebert’s essay “The Elephant Crackup” tries to break that hierarchical barrier between animals and humans. Humans are supposed to respect and take care of animals; however, there are too many significant differences between both species to form one, distinct culture.

How is this Expos 101 thing supposed to work anyway?

As we begin work on the first of the five papers that will follow, it might be just the right time to think about what it is that Expos 101 is meant to teach and achieve. Here is Prof. Kurt Spellmeyer, the director of the writing program and one of the editors of The NHR, addressing exactly this issue.

WATCH VIDEO (sorry couldn't get it to embed in the post)

One thing that is clear from this video is that paper 1 (or any other paper for this class) cannot simply be a summary of the author’s argument. The paper must say something about the essay or as Kurt puts it “be able to use it”. The best bet for using it is a paper that considers the implications of the author's argument. In other words, writing the paper means asking ourselves: why is Siebert’s argument important? How does it make a conceptual change to the way we think or live? Hence the assignment question which encourages you to think in terms of the newness of Siebert’s argument.

Writing, peer reviewing and grading also brings us to the most demanding and unrelenting part of the semester. From here it will only get really tough for all of us and there is no way of escaping that. The good thing, though, is that I know, from past experience, that it gets better. The catch? It gets better only after it is over. 

Oh! and trivia: Prof. Spellmeyer is also a Zen master and has been running the Cold Mountain Sangha  at Rutgers for many years now. And where does the Sangha mainly meet? : the Livingston Tutoring Center where you are all going to sign up for tutoring pretty soon (and no they don't automatically sign you up for zen)! 

Human-Elephant Relationship

Siebert believes that the way that people see animals, or more specifically, elephants, is geared by the way that people see themselves. He sees the connection between elephants and humans as very distinct. Siebert describes the connection in a broad sense and even goes as far as to use a metaphor to relate the two, saying, “…People are animals” (534). His fellow researchers see a deeper, more subtle connection between elephants and humans. Gay Bradshaw, for example, a fellow researcher, finds the connection to be more focused on people’s psyches. By focusing on the psyche-connections between humans and elephants, humans can better understand the “frame of reference” of elephants and in effect relate to them much better.

Repetitious Redundancy

Rehabilitated, reintroduced, re-unite, these words center about redundancy and repetition. To mend the tears of the elephant society, people must “participate actively” and continuously. Siebert describes the “new trans-species psyche” as an “uncharted frontier.” One cannot hope to discuss a topic and systematically know all there is, understanding takes time; time which is needed to fully comprehend the broken stability in elephants and to adequately aid in the recovery of their damaged psyches.

The Sheldrick Trust has proven successful in the rehabilitation of many elephants: this success has remained in the “elephant’s collective memory” and because of this elephants return to the sanctuary. Elephants return “with their own wild-born calves” hoping that the sanctuary can serve as “allomothers” to this new generation of elephants as they served to the now matured and healed elephants. Anthropomorphically, elephants are recognizing the need for help with their trauma. Redundancy is the key to growth. Consequent returns of rehabilitated elephants prove success in repetition.

Healed Elephants

The dream of human and elephant coexistence is now being outwardly displayed by successfully rehabilitating elephants by human trainers. Healed elephants from the sanctuary are returned with their newly, wild-born calves to be introduced to their “human allograndmothers”. This illustrates that elephants, like humans, have an intricate “web” of social tiers. Elephants are beginning to associate humans as their own. This connection is “mutually benefiting interspecies culture”. OED definition of word "mutually" is “so as to reciprocate the same or an equivalent action, feeling, or effect”. It is benefiting our relationship between animals like elephants and humans. Sheldrick Trust, I think, is only the beginning of the “interspecies culture”. With this continuing effort, I think we will fully appreciate the complex similarities between elephants and us.

The Necessity for Cooperation

Siebert decided to share with us how the elephants were able to become rehabilitated and the outcome of this process, which he made seem as if it were very successful. “the trust and the sanctuary are the beginnings of a mutually benefiting inter-species culture”(538). The word mutually is a very common word, but within the texts, and understanding the definition which is “In a mutual relation; so as to reciprocate the same or an equivalent action, feeling, or effect; reciprocally” (OED) makes this a very powerful statement. The use of this word shows that the work put into rehabilitating is equally helpful to humans as well as healing the elephants. Siebert also uses the word “allomothers” (538) and also “new subs-species” (538) within his text which I believe is extremely important when used together. The word “allomothers” (538) alone means a substitute guardian that plays the role of a mother, but when combined with the phrase “new subspecies” which broken down can be deduced to mean “A subdivision of a species; a more or less permanent variety of a species” (OED) really shows how impacting this rehabilitation is to the relationship between man and elephants. Before this quote, Siebert discussed the fabric of the elephant society being frayed. I feel as if this new quote can be described as the same fabric being repaired by the help of the human fabric. As if humans and elephants, both being damaged and frayed, can come together to create a new fabric, just as Siebert said “a whole new sub-species” (538). Siebert quoted Bradshaw saying “Now humans can participate actively in the healing of both themselves and non-human animals” (538). This only strengthens the idea that the human and elephant interaction can benefit both parties. My interpretation of Siebert’s quote was that humans and elephants can use one another and become related to initiate being a better being.

Elephant Love

Charles Siebert, author of “An Elephant Crackup”, talks about how the Sheldrick trust has successfully rehabilitated over 60 elephants to date. During this time, a new subspecies has developed: human allograndmothers. This means that elephants have become so used to interacting with humans that they often bring their offspring back to the sanctuary to experience this “trans-species psyche”. Siebert uses the word psyche here to show how humans and elephants share similar mind traits. All of this has led to “Now humans can participate actively in the healing of both themselves and non-human animals. The trust and the sanctuary are the beginning of a mutually benefiting interspecies culture” (Siebert 538). Siebert uses interspecies to show how two species have benefited from eachother.

Trans-Specie Family

In the extract from Siebert's "An Elephant Crackup", he shares a fresh perspective on how the elephant family structure may be significantly evolving. Originally he introduces the term allomother to distinguish the relationship that some animals are developing with humans that care for them. Since the elephants don't share the anthropocentric mentality that us humans possess, it seems that they can more easily accept other species as their own. In this quote Siebert says that elephants sometimes return to the sanctuary after some years to introduce their offspring and to indirectly show their caretakers. This shows that elephants recognize their caretakers as so much more than simply the people that give them food or clean up their dung. Siebert introduces the word "allograndmothers" to describe the roles that the humans play in the elephants' family structure.

On the other hand, the idea of inter-species culture is still completely foreign to us. This is evident in the fact that our language doesn't even provide a proper way to describe this kind of relationship with the animals. Siebert was forced to create new words to be able to convey this idea in his essay. Maybe we can learn from the animals though, and familiarize ourselves with this alternate culture.

Sheldrick Trust

Currently humans are becoming connected with elephants in a trans-species way. Elephants that had been traumatized during their childhood as a result of seeing their personal mother or elder die; these elephants are currently being rehabilitated by companies such as the Sheldrick Trust. The Sheldrick Trust is successful because they replace the traumatized elephants previous mother with an allograndmother, which provides the love and care to the elephants that didn't receive that affection needed because of the loss of their elder. When the humans help cure the traumatized elephants, both the elephants and human will benefit from this because it provides a source of healing.

The New Trans-Species Psyche

Charles Siebert’s essay “An Elephant Crackup” captures the healing process of both elephants and humans from the warfare that has caused devastation on both sides. The Sheldrick Trust has made it their goal to rehabilitate elephants for their eventual return to elephant society, and one of the byproducts of this symbiotic relationship is that elephants are now recognizing a new sub-species: the human allograndmothers. This is a big step to the successful healing of human-elephant relations because the elephants realize the role that their caretakers play in their lives. They are able to distinguish the distinct difference between their previous captors and poachers with their new “elders” who have helped heal them from their past traumas and mistreatment. The passage even goes so far to say that elephants who had been successfully reintegrated back into the wild have returned with their young to visit the sanctuary and their human allomothers. This indicates that those elephants are no longer afraid of humans, at least those in the sanctuary, because of the compassion that they were shown during their stay.

One of Siebert’s claims in the passage is that “the trust and the sanctuary are the beginnings of a mutually benefitting interspecies culture” (538). This implies that both the elephants and the humans are benefitting from the experience which makes sense because of the amount of effort that is involved in making this enterprise be successful is enormous. The elephants are receiving treatment for their past traumas and wounds at the hands of poachers and captors who caused them to live a life of fear. But this is also beneficial to the humans because they have dedicated their life to helping another animal in need and as such they have changed their mindset from one of self-centeredness to one of anthropomorphism. The basis for this new thinking lies, according to Bradshaw, in the fact that “traditionally, nature has served as a source of healing for humans”. In this case, nature is the uniting factor that has brought humans and elephants together at the sanctuary, and that unity has created a new trans-species psyche that will hopefully alleviate all tensions between us.

Humans and Elephants Coexisting

Charles Siebert writes that the Sheldrick Trust has rehabilitated many elephants and brought them back into the wild. It is interesting to note that Siebert uses the word rehabilitate to describe the situation. The word rehabilitate is usually associated with alcoholics and drug addicts when they are trying to kick the habit. As he does throughout the essay he uses words normally associated with humans to describe elephants. Later in the essay, he describes elephants bringing their young to their old human 'allomothers'. This again illustrates the point that elephants have developed a 'trans-species psyche' with humans. Siebert hopes that we return the favor and treat elephants more like humans. Bradshaw says that "Traditionally, nature has served as a source of healing for humans." Bradshaw also hopes that humans can help in the healing of other animals. He uses the phrase 'mutually benefiting interspecies culture' to describe his vision where animals as well as humans' sentiments are given weight and value.