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Book review: Ruined Skylines: Aesthetics, Politics and London’s Towering Cityscape

Book review: Ruined Skylines: Aesthetics, Politics and London’s Towering Cityscape 204 cultural geographies 28(1) by virtue of a shared concern with corvid life, each chapter seeps into and enlivens others. In this spirit, the work is punctuated by short vignettes elaborating particular corvid behaviours – including stealing, cooperating and gifting – which both thicken the figure of the ‘crow’, while emphasising the difference that abounds within and between such creatures. While the nature and expression of corvid agency remains open to debate, uncertainty need not necessitate taking epistemological shelter amidst mechanical representations of the nonhuman. As van Dooren argues, uncertainty can be an invitation to speculate on the possibility that corvids are more interesting than we currently appreciate. Ultimately, The Wake of Crows is about asking a key question of contemporary multispecies ecologies: ‘what else is possible?’ (p. 162). This question encapsulates van Dooren’s ‘restless’ ethical praxis, in which ‘the good must be carefully crafted, in the multiple, again and again’ (p. 13). The intention is not to resolve disputes but instead advocate for ongoing, situated and careful attention to human–animal relations as they occur, and with an eye to the alternative, more live- able arrangements that might be nurtured. And yet, such a focus does not ignore that, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Cultural Geographies SAGE

Book review: Ruined Skylines: Aesthetics, Politics and London’s Towering Cityscape

Brigstocke, Julian
Cultural Geographies , Volume 28 (1): 2 – Jan 1, 2021
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020
ISSN
1474-4740
eISSN
1477-0881
DOI
10.1177/1474474020942792
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

204 cultural geographies 28(1) by virtue of a shared concern with corvid life, each chapter seeps into and enlivens others. In this spirit, the work is punctuated by short vignettes elaborating particular corvid behaviours – including stealing, cooperating and gifting – which both thicken the figure of the ‘crow’, while emphasising the difference that abounds within and between such creatures. While the nature and expression of corvid agency remains open to debate, uncertainty need not necessitate taking epistemological shelter amidst mechanical representations of the nonhuman. As van Dooren argues, uncertainty can be an invitation to speculate on the possibility that corvids are more interesting than we currently appreciate. Ultimately, The Wake of Crows is about asking a key question of contemporary multispecies ecologies: ‘what else is possible?’ (p. 162). This question encapsulates van Dooren’s ‘restless’ ethical praxis, in which ‘the good must be carefully crafted, in the multiple, again and again’ (p. 13). The intention is not to resolve disputes but instead advocate for ongoing, situated and careful attention to human–animal relations as they occur, and with an eye to the alternative, more live- able arrangements that might be nurtured. And yet, such a focus does not ignore that,

Journal

Cultural Geographies – SAGE

Published: Jan 1, 2021

There are no references for this article.