Table Of ContentC I F E R A E
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POSTHUMANITIES
Cary Wolfe, Series Editor
19 CIFERAE: A Bestiary in Five Fingers 10 Cosmopolitics II
Tom Tyler Isabelle Stengers
18 Improper Life: Technology and Biopolitics 9 Cosmopolitics I
from Heidegger to Agamben Isabelle Stengers
Timothy C. Campbell 8 What Is Posthumanism?
17 Surface Encounters: Cary Wolfe
Thinking with Animals and Art 7 Political Affect: Connecting the Social and the Somatic
Ron Broglio John Protevi
16 Against Ecological Sovereignty: 6 Animal Capital: Rendering Life in Biopolitical Times
Ethics, Biopolitics, and Saving the Natural World Nicole Shukin
Mick Smith
5 Dorsality: Thinking Back through Technology
15 Animal Stories: Narrating across Species Lines and Politics
Susan McHugh David Wills
14 Human Error: Species-Being and Media Machines 4 Bíos: Biopolitics and Philosophy
Dominic Pettman Roberto Esposito
13 Junkware 3 When Species Meet
Thierry Bardini Donna J. Haraway
12 A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and 2 The Poetics of DNA
Humans, with A Theory of Meaning Judith Roof
Jakob von Uexküll
1 The Parasite
11 Insect Media: An Archaeology of Animals Michel Serres
and Technology
Jussi Parikka
C I F E R A E
POSTHUMANITIES 19
A Bestiary in Five Fingers
Tom Tyler
University of Minnesota Press : minneapolis : london
The ornamental capitals at the beginning of each chapter Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
were designed in 1519 by the printer Jacques Sacon of
Lyons, France. The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity
educator and employer.
See pages 293–95 for information on previously published
material in this book. library of Congress CaTaloging-in-publiCaTion daTa
Tyler, Tom, 1968–
Copyright 2012 by the Regents of the University
Ciferae : a bestiary in five fingers / Tom Tyler.
of Minnesota
(Posthumanities ; 19)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
ISBN 978-0-8166-6543-3 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
0-8166-6544-0 (pb : alk. paper)
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
1. Knowledge, Theory of. 2. Animals—Miscellanea.
copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
3. Bestiaries. I. Title.
permission of the publisher.
BD161.T95 2012
128—dc23
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
2012000011
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The word “beasTs ”
should properly be used about lions, leopards,
and tigers, wolves, and foxes, dogs, apes and
others which rage about with tooth and claw,
with the exception of snakes. Further, they are
beasts because of the violence with which they
rage, and are known as “wild” (ferus) because
they are accustomed to freedom by nature and
are driven (feranTur) by their own wishes. For
their wills are free, and they wander hither and
thither, and where the spirit (animus) will lead
them, there they roam.
T. h. whiTe
The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bes-
tiary of the Twelfth Century (translation modified)
C I F E R A E
Acknowledgments xi
Prelude 1
VallaTus indiCibus rideTo mulTum eT digiTum mediCo
aTque siCariis porrigiTo medium TesTiCuli arieTini
Surrounded by Laugh Loudly and On the Ring Finger
Informers and Assassins Flip Them the Bird a Ram’s Testicles
9 77 109
Like Water in Water 9 Two Hands Are Better The Digestive System
Than One 77 of Our Mind 109
Into Your Hand
They Are Delivered 13 The Truth about Mice An Unknown Something 116
and Ducks 82
Deciphering Deciphering 22 Praying to the Aliens 125
The Philosopher and the Gnat 89
Prickly Porcupines Nothing to Phone Home About 130
and Docile Dogs 29 The Birds and the Bees 96 From Noumena to Nebula 139
An ABC of Animals 41 The Back of a Tiger 104 Those Who Like to Think So 144
If a Lion Had Hands 50 One Ring to Rule Them All 156
Quia Ego Nominor Leo 64
Taking Animals in Hand 71
A Bestiary in Five Fingers
digiTo minimo mundum manus parVa, Coda 263
uniVersum exCiTes maiori adiuTrix, pollex
Bibliography 267
With Your Little Finger The Thumb
Publication History
You Would Awaken Is a Little Hand, and Permissions 293
the Whole World Assistant to the Greater Index 297
163 211
The Eyes Have It 163 To We or Not to We 211
A Tale of Three Fish 175 If I Had a Hammer 216
Handing On and Gathering In 184 The Rule of Thumb 227
Bird Brains 191 Four Hands Good,
Two Hands Bad 244
Getting Stuck In 207
A Report to an Academy 255
