Whales are the largest animals that have ever lived on our planet, yet we know very little about them. New species of whales are still being discovered, and we are learning more all the time. One group that is learning more about whales are students of SPU Assistant Professor of English 彼得Moe. During Summer Session 2020, these students assembled the skeleton of a 29-foot juvenile gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus.

Working 84 hours over 14 days, 20个学生, along with Facilities and Maintence staff, assembled the 250 bones of the Longbranch Whale's 518.air骨架.

Watch on YouTube >

难以捉摸的鲸鱼

Background

In 2019, SPU Assistant Professor of English 彼得Moe heard about a grey whale carcass that had washed ashore on a private beach in Longbranch, Washington.

Whale skeleton articulation course

Summer Session 2020, a group of SPU students assembled (“articulated”) the skeleton of that whale, and along the way engaged in interdisciplinary inquiry as a way of coming to know the unknown. Moe taught the course with Rus Higley, director of the Marine Science and Technology Center at Highline College, who is an experienced whale assembler — this was Higley’s fourth whale assembly. 在课程中, SPU faculty and invited guest lecturers spoke about whales from their respective disciplines, including theology, 生物学, 和艺术. As the class syllabus explains, 

This is an effort to practice interdisciplinary inquiry, to explore how one field might enrich another, putting us in a position to learn something we could not have learned within our own disciplines alone. By coming to know whales, we can work toward saving them. 

In 白鲸记, Ishmael warns readers against speaking too much about what it’s like inside a whale — “have a care how you seize the privilege of Jonah alone” he says — but after these four weeks, four weeks where you will handle this whale’s very bones, four weeks of standing within her jaws, four weeks of peering out through her ribs, you may be in a place to say something of what a whale is.

The articulated skeleton now hangs in the lobby of Eaton Hall.

Eschrichtius Robustus Speaker Series on Zoom

“Knowing Whales,” Part 1 [Lecture recording*]

周三,8月. 19, 7 p.m.

  • “Epistemology and Whales,” 马修·本顿, SPU assistant professor of philosophy
  • “Jonah and the Whale,” 莎拉Koenig, SPU associate professor of biblical studies
  • “Whales as Installations,” 艾莉森Stigora, SPU assistant professor of sculpture
  • “A Whale’s Pelvis,” 瑞安Bebej, Calvin University associate professor of 生物学

*Due to technical difficulties, the first 30 minutes did not get recorded.

“Knowing Whales,” Part 2 [Lecture recording*]

周三,8月. 26, 7 p.m.

  • “Job 41, Theodicy, and the Leviathan,” 杰夫Keuss, SPU professor of Christian ministry, theology, and culture
  • “母乳”, 疥螨病Moe, SPU professor emerita of family and consumer sciences
  • “Metaphor and the Incomprehensible,” 米威雷特, SPU instructor of education, English, and writing

*Due to technical difficulties, the first 30 minutes did not get recorded.

“Save the Whales” [Lecture recording]

星期三,9月. 2, 7 p.m. 

  • Lynda Mapes, award-winning environmental journalist, 西雅图时报  
  • Jessie Huggins, stranding coordinator for Cascadia Research Collective
  • Kristin Wilkinson, stranding coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Eric长, SPU professor of 生物学

在媒体上