Steven Wagschal’s Minding Animals in the Old and New Worlds. A Cognitive Historical Analysis is an essential volume, the first in Hispanism to combine and apply Cognitive and Animal Studies approaches to literature of early modern Spain and the New World. The meticulous analyses reveal Professor Wagschal’s command of pertinent theoretical literature on animal cognition, which he applies skillfully to a wide range of primary sources from both continents.
This study’s objectives are stated clearly in the introduction and reiterated at critical junctures: “The overarching thesis of this book is simple: People tend to conceptualize the minds of animals in ways that reflect their own uses for the animal, the manner in which they interact with the animal, and the place in which the animal lives. Often this has little if anything to do with the cognitive abilities of the animal as understood scientifically” (4). This premise is deceptively straightforward...
