Dawn Prince-Hughes

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Dawn Prince-Hughes, Ph.D., (born January 31, 1964, in Carbondale, Illinois) is an anthropologist, primatologist, and ethologist who received her M.A. and Ph.D. in interdisciplinary anthropology from the Universität Herisau in Switzerland, and is an instructor in the department of anthropology at Western Washington University. She was the Executive Director of the Institute for Cognitive Archaeological Research and is associated with the Jane Goodall Institute.

Prince-Huges is the author of Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism ISBN 1-4000-5058-8 and Gorillas Among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days, the editor of Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism, and the executive chair of ApeNet, a nonprofit organization.

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[edit] Theories

As a young adult, Prince-Hughes was employed at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. She watched how silverback male gorillas cared for their families and paternally intervened to resolve conflicts, thereby setting the tone for community behavior. She came to conclude anger often stems from embarrassment, and humor is a natural response to fear.

Prince-Hughes challenges the predominant scientific paradigm, which says the nature of mankind's cognitive processes is clearly distinct from that of primates. In most scientific circles, ascribing human characteristics to animal minds is anathema. From her observations, Prince-Hughes has fomulated several contrarian scientific conclusions, perhaps most notably that Bonobos (Pygmy Chimpanzees) can actually speak English - if one just learns to understand the accent.

Dawn Prince-Hughes believes an autistic culture has arisen, which she credits to the advent of the internet.

[edit] Literary works

In Songs of the Gorilla Nation Prince-Hughes describes how she learned techniques to manage her form of autism, Asperger's syndrome, from her experiences observing and interacting with gorillas at the Seattle Zoo. In Gorilla Nation, she explores how working with gorillas helped her escape her social isolation . Asperger's syndrome is characterized by difficulties processing stimuli, sensory sensitivity, and social awkwardness. As suggested by the title, which speaks of a 'nation' of gorillas, the author conveys an eyeview of the world from the perspective of primates, effectively demonstrating how people and gorillas are subsumed emotionally, socially, and spiritually under the same rubric.

'Gorillas Among Us', compresses Prince-Hughes' many years of observing captive gorillas through an enclosure - visitors usually average only a few seconds - into a diary chronicling the lives of one gorilla family. She creates a blended portrait of both peoples — gorilla and human.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Audio link

  • LOE.org - 'Gorilla Therapy: Dawn Prince-Hughes talks about her new book, Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism' (August 13, 2004)
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