New ebooks From Canadian Indies

9780773547995_cover Enlarge Cover
0 of 5
0 ratings
rated!
rated!
list price: $34.95
edition:Hardcover
also available: Paperback eBook
category: Biography & Autobiography
published: Oct 2016
ISBN:9780773547995
publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Smitten by Giraffe

My Life as a Citizen Scientist

by Anne Innis Dagg

tagged: science & technology, women's studies, mammals, women
Description

When Anne Innis saw her first giraffe at the age of three, she was smitten. She knew she had to learn more about this marvelous animal. Twenty years later, now a trained zoologist, she set off alone to Africa to study the behaviour of giraffe in the wild. Subsequently, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey would be driven by a similar devotion to study the behaviour of wild apes. In Smitten by Giraffe, the noted feminist reflects on her scientific work as well as the leading role she has played in numerous activist campaigns. On returning home to Canada, Anne married physicist Ian Dagg, had three children, published a number of scientific papers, taught at several local universities, and in 1967 earned her PhD in biology at the University of Waterloo. Dagg was continually frustrated in her efforts to secure a position as a tenured professor despite her many publications and exemplary teaching record. Finally she opted instead to pursue her research as an independent “citizen scientist,” while working part-time as an academic advisor. Dagg would spend many years fighting against the marginalization of women in the arts and sciences. Boldly documenting widespread sexism in universities while also discussing Dagg’s involvement with important zoological topics such as homosexuality, infanticide, sociobiology, and taxonomy, Smitten by Giraffe offers an inside perspective on the workings of scientific research and debate, the history of academia, and the rise of second-wave feminism.

About the Author
Anne Innis Dagg, a member of the Order of Canada, works with the Anne Innis Dagg Foundation to support the conservation of giraffe throughout Africa.
Contributor Notes

Anne Innis Dagg is senior academic advisor in the Independent Studies Program at the University of Waterloo.

Editorial Reviews

"In this plainspoken memoir, Canadian zoologist chronicles her unusual life as a “citizen scientist” and the deeply ingrained sexism she experienced in academia. Rather than quietly giving up, Dagg chose to advocate for other women in academia and contin


"The love and study of giraffes may not seem like a natural segue into confronting sexism in academia, but for Dagg it is just that. Engaging anecdotes of her time in the wilds of Africa studying giraffes make for an interesting juxtaposition of her life


"This compelling memoir brings research to life, reminding us that there is no research without a researcher. Dagg’s is a quintessentially Canadian story of survival despite the odds." Herizons


“Smitten by Giraffe is very readable, even for those who don’t gravitate towards books about science. It can feel disjointed, jumping as it does from Dagg’s research to her feminist activism and back again, but it is a memoir, after all: life doesn’t move


“A delightful book in many ways, Smitten by Giraffe provides some much-needed, even rare, insights into the challenges of being a field scientist, and especially a female one. Readers will find this book rewarding, entertaining, and informative.” Holly Dressel, co-author of Good News for a Change

Buy the e-book:

X
Contacting facebook
Please wait...