William M. Fields

William M. Fields (b. 1949) also known by the lexigram .

Biography

Fields was born in Georgia in 1949, the oldest of four children. His father is a musician and his mother a housewife. He attended Georgia State University where he was the student of anthropologist Kathryn A. Kozaitis earning a B.A. in anthropology in 1999. He also studied with Charles Rutheiser, Robert Fryman, and Mark B. King. Under these influences he developed the notions of a hybrid culture in which he proposed the theoretical concept of a "Pan/Homo" cultural dynamic as a critique of the ethological notion of proto-culture to explain bonobo Kanzi’s linguistic abilities.

In 2006 Fields published, as second author, "Kanzi’s Primal Language: the cultural initiation of apes into language". The qualitative monograph is a cultural recasting of Savage-Rumbaugh’s 1993 empirical monograph titled "Language Comprehension in Ape and Child". In 2006 he accepted the position of Senior Research Scientist at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa where he continues to participate in ape language research with Savage-Rumbaugh and the bonobos Kanzi, Panbanisha, Nyota, Nathan, Maisha, Elikya, and Matata. The ape language program includes stone tool use and manufacture with paleolithic specialists Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick. Fields appears in the NHK science documentary, Kanzi II, 2000.

Publications

Fields, W.M. (2007) “Ethnographic Kanzi versus empirical Kanzi: on the distinction between “Home” and “Laboratory” in the lives of enculturated apes. "Rivista di Analisi del Testo."

Fields, W.M., Segerdahl, P., & Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S. (2007) “The Material Practices of Ape Language.” In J. Valsiner (Ed.) "The Cambridge Handbook of Socio-Cultural Psychology."

Savage-Rumbaugh, S. & Fields, W.M. (2006) “Rules and Tools: Beyond Anthropomorphism: A qualitative report on the stone tool manufacture and use by captive bonobos Kanzi and Panbanisha.” In N. Toth’s "Craft Institute Oldowan Technologies 1(1)."

Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Rumbaugh, D.M. & W.M. Fields. (2006) “Language as a Window on the Cultural Mind.” In S. Hurley (Ed.) "Rational Animals", Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Segerdahl, P., Fields ,W.M., & Savage-Rumbaugh,E.S. (2006) "Kanzi’s Primal Language: The cultural initiation of apes into language". London: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Fields, W.M.,Segerdahl, P., & D.M. Rumbaugh. (2005) “Culture prefigures cognition in Pan/Homo Bonobos.” "Theoria" 20(3).

Rumbaugh, D.M., Fields, W.M. (2005) “Great Apes Living in Decatur, Georgia” In J. Caldecott & L. Miles (Eds.) "The Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation". WNEP-WCMC Press.

Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S., Segerdahl, P., Fields, W.M. (2005) “Individual differences in language competencies in apes resulting from unique rearing conditions imposed by different first epistemologies.” In L.L. Namy & S.R. Waxman (Eds.) "Symbolic Use and Symbolic Representation". NJ: Erlbaum

Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Fields, W.M., & T. Spircu. (2004). “The Emergence of Knapping and Vocal Expression Embedded in a Pan/Homo Culture.” "J. of Biology and Philosophy (19)."

Fields, W.M., & Savage-Rumbaugh, S. (2003). [Review of the book A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness] . "Contemporary Psychology 48(8)."

Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Fields, W. (2002). “Hacias el control denuevas realidades.” Quark (25), 20-26.

Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Fields, W.M. & Taglialatela, J. (2001) “Language, Speech,Tools and Writing: A cultural imperative.” In Thompson,E. (Ed.), "Between Ourselves: Second-person issues in the study of consciousness,(pp. 273-292)". Exeter, UK:Imprint Academic.

Savage-Rumbaugh, S. & Fields. W.M. (2000). [Review of the book The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition] . "American Anthropologist. 102(4),925-926."

Savage-Rumbaugh,E.S. & Fields, W.M. (2000). “Linguistic, Cultural and Cognitive Capacities of Bonobos (Pan paniscus).” "Culture & Psychology 6(2),131-153."

Savage-Rumbaugh,E.S., Fields, W. & Taglialatela, J. (2000). “Ape Consciousness-Human Consciousness: A perspective informed by language and culture.” "American Zoologist 40(6), 910-921."

Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S. and Fields, W.M. (1998). “Language and Culture: A Trans-Cultural Interweaving.” "Language Origins Society, 28,4-14."

References