Good Conversation Centre: Translating non-human languages | literary meeting with Eva Meijer

Moderated by: Anna Jurek. Event in English translated into Polish

For centuries, Homo sapiens have claimed that what distinguishes us from other species is language. Today, thanks to numerous studies, we know that this is not true: most herd animals use a nuanced system of communication based on smells, sounds, movements and colours. For example, dolphins and parrots call each other by name, grammatical structures can be found in the songs of many birds and in the patterns on the skin of cuttlefish, captive elephants gradually begin to use ‘our’ words to communicate with humans, and wild elephants have their own term for humans. Humpback sing love songs that can last up to twenty hours. Non-human languages are not inferior to ours, they are different, but they should not be valued, especially from an anthropocentric perspective.

Learning languages should therefore also mean learning the languages of non-human animals. The Dutch researcher, philosopher and writer, author of the books Animal Languages and When Animals Speak – Eva Meijer, will guide Anna Jurek and the audience through their meanders.

The meeting extends the context of the performance event about non-human beings “400 m2 of hope”, directed by Michał Zadara.

Bio

Eva Meijer is a philosopher, visual artist, writer and singer. She writes novels, philosophical essays, academic texts, poems and columns, and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Recurring themes include language, silence, madness, non-human animals and politics. Meijer also works as a researcher at the University of Amsterdam, writes essays and columns for the NRC newspaper and is a member of the Multispecies Collective.

Anna Jurek – sex educator and philosopher. Vice-president of the Fundacja Nowoczesnej Edukacji SPUNK from 2012 to 2023. She cooperates with “Cosmos for Girls” overseeing the topic of “the body”. Author of numerous articles on growing up and finding one’s own way in life, e.g. for Newsweek Extra Psychologia Dziecka i Psychologia Nastolatka, portals: Cosmos for Girls, Dzieci są ważne, publishing house: Znak, Debit, Perseidy. She regularly cooperates with the Teatr Powszechny in Łódź, where she conducts post-show workshops as part of the “Child in a situation” series, discussing the following topics: adolescence, family, communication, equality, violence. She promotes the method of Philosophical Inquiry based on Matthew Lipman’s “Philosophy for Children” programme. She philosophises with children, young people and adults in cultural institutions. On Instagram she runs the profile @pani.cogito.philosophises.

Co-organiser: The Łódź Literature House