TY - JOUR

T1 - Jizz and the joy of pattern recognition

T2 - virtuosity, discipline and the agency of insight in UK naturalists’ arts of seeing

AU - Ellis, Rebecca

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Social Studies of Science, 41, (6), 2011, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2011 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Social Studies of Science page: http://sss.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/

PY - 2011/12

Y1 - 2011/12

N2 - Approaches to visual skilling from anthropology and STS have tended to highlight the forces of discipline and control in understanding how shared visual accounts of the world are created in the face of potential differences brought about by multi-sensorial perception. Drawing upon a range of observational and interview material from an immersion in naturalist training and biological recording activities between 2003 and 2009, I focus upon jizz, a distinct form of gestalt perception much coveted by naturalist communities in the UK. Jizz is described as a tacit and embodied way of seeing that instantaneously reveals the identity of a species, relying upon but simultaneously suspending the arduous and meticulous study of an organism’s diagnostic characteristics. I explore the potential and limitations of jizz to allow for both visual precision and an enchanted and varied form of encounter with nature. In so doing, I explore how the specific characteristics of wild, intangible and irreverent virtuoso performance work closely together with disciplining taxonomic standards. As such, discipline and irreverence work together, are mutually enabling, and allow for an accommodation rather than a segregation of potential difference brought about by perceptual variety.

AB - Approaches to visual skilling from anthropology and STS have tended to highlight the forces of discipline and control in understanding how shared visual accounts of the world are created in the face of potential differences brought about by multi-sensorial perception. Drawing upon a range of observational and interview material from an immersion in naturalist training and biological recording activities between 2003 and 2009, I focus upon jizz, a distinct form of gestalt perception much coveted by naturalist communities in the UK. Jizz is described as a tacit and embodied way of seeing that instantaneously reveals the identity of a species, relying upon but simultaneously suspending the arduous and meticulous study of an organism’s diagnostic characteristics. I explore the potential and limitations of jizz to allow for both visual precision and an enchanted and varied form of encounter with nature. In so doing, I explore how the specific characteristics of wild, intangible and irreverent virtuoso performance work closely together with disciplining taxonomic standards. As such, discipline and irreverence work together, are mutually enabling, and allow for an accommodation rather than a segregation of potential difference brought about by perceptual variety.

KW - biodiversity

KW - perception

KW - virtuosity

KW - visual skilling

KW - UK naturalists

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=81255149994&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0306312711423432

DO - 10.1177/0306312711423432

M3 - Journal article

VL - 41

SP - 769

EP - 790

JO - Social Studies of Science

JF - Social Studies of Science

SN - 0306-3127

IS - 6

ER -