Next Of Kin Chapter Summaries

Next of Kin tells the story of a man’s life and how it was forever changed once he was asked to become an assistant for a research project with chimpanzees. The story spans over several decades of work. It is very emotional and telling. The book allows the reader to have an intimate understanding of how the research was conducted, as well as how the world had viewed and treated chimpanzees at the time which Fouts was involved in the Washoe project.
Before being introduced to any chimpanzees, Fouts was a psychology master’s student, and was originally planning to work with children. However, he was introduced to a couple, the Gardeners, who asked him to assist them on a research project at their home. The Gardeners were the first people to

introduce Fouts to Washoe, who was already beginning to learn American sign language. Washoe was the first chimpanzee, and non-human, to ever to learn to communicate using ASL.
When Fouts first arrived at the Gardener’s home he was only one of sever assistance working with Washoe.

However, when the couple decided that Washoe would no longer continue living on their property, and would be relocated to Phoenix University, the Gardener’s asked Fouts to follow Washoe, and move to Arizona with her. Fouts accepted their request and moved his family to Phoenix. Unbeknownst to Fouts this would become only the beginning of a long and meaningful relationship with the chimpanzee.
During his time in Phoenix, Fouts would learn even more about his friend Washoe’s language abilities. He would have the opportunity to continue working with his friend, as well as several other chimpanzees. While accomplishing all of this would prove to be no easy task Fouts never lost sight of the things he wanted to complete, and what mattered most to

him.
As mentioned, Washoe was the first non-human to learn sign language. This created a huge spark in the scientific community. While many people were interested and accepted the newfound abilities of chimpanzees, and equal amount appeared to be skeptical. Some scientists argued that though Washoe knew many words in ASL, and would also come to understand many spoken English words, this was not considered to be complex enough to be considered language. Criticizers claimed that a chimpanzee could never learn grammar, which is an important aspect of human language. However, Washoe proved to have a preference in word order. For example, Washoe understood the difference between stating “toothbrush on blanket” and “blanket on toothbrush”, where each phrase holds a distinct and separate meaning. When tested, Washoe would prove to have over a 75% accuracy on this issue.
Others denied the thought that Washoe understood what was being said to her, and was rather being subconsciously cued by the instructor on what to do or how to respond to them. However, it would later be discovered that Washoe would sign to herself when she was alone, and without anyone around to give her any suggestive body language. This showed that Washoe truly understood the meaning of the words she would sign.
Additionally, Washoe was not the only chimpanzee to learn sign language from Fouts. For a period, Washoe lived on an island in Phoenix with several other young chimpanzees. Fouts challenged himself to teach each of the chimpanzees American sign language. He had frequently acknowledged that no chimpanzee was the same, each holding its own unique personality. Considering this, it is no surprise that everyone would learn at a different pace with different learning tactics. While some of them would learn faster than others, each one of the chimpanzees that lived on the island with Washoe would come to learn a satisfactory amount of ASL. This proved that Washoe was not an exceptionally intelligent chimpanzee, and that learning sign language was something that most chimpanzees had the capacity to do.
When Washoe became pregnant Fouts decided he had one last thing to prove to the scientific community. He was eager to discover whether she would teach her baby sign language. So that they could insure it was Washoe teaching her baby, rather than the baby learning from humans, all who assisted in the study would only speak English once the child was born. Since Washoe understood many English words this was possible. Washoe would listen to what was spoken to her, and respond in sign language. Unfortunately, Washoe lost her first born, and then also her second baby to natural causes during and after birth. Thankfully, after some investigation, Fouts found a 10-month-old chimpanzee baby boy who Washoe was excited to adopt as her own. Washoe would frequently sign around her baby, and eventually the baby would prove to be able to learn sign language from his mother.
In the aspect of language, Washoe could go beyond what was expected of her by many people. Washoe learned to understand and gesture a large amount of words in American sign language. Eventually she would also understand when people spoke to her in English. She had the ability to use up to seven words at a time, using a preference in word order. The friends she became close to on the island was also able to use sign language, and they would use it to speak to one another. Washoe even proved to be able to teach her son many words and ASL, with no assistance of human researchers. Washoe is not just using gestures as a signal to communicate, but she is also able to expand upon what words she does know, creating new and innovative word combinations. Washoe absolutely showed the world that chimpanzees have the capacity to learn language. This shattered many people’s philosophy on the uniqueness of mankind.
Fouts eventually came to learn that chimpanzees already used many gestures to communicate in the wild.

He claimed that since chimpanzees naturally used a gestural form of communication it made sense that they would also be able to learn sign language. Gestural forms of communication would have likely been used by our common ancestor as well. However, once the larynx migrated in our throat, and our tongues became more mobile, it allowed us to create complex sounds for spoken language. Evolutionarily speaking, these traits were likely selected for genetic changes to better our language skills to survive. The ability to exchange ideas provides greater

adaptability.
Through his book Fouts would tell not only his story, but the story of the chimpanzees that he worked with, and how they would become his friends. He spoke about the chimpanzees in a way that was emotional and compassionate. As a reader, it was hard not to feel empathetic. While the research itself was extremely interesting, so was the daily lives of the chimpanzees. Fouts described in full detail how the scientific community responded to Washoe, and how other research facilities treated their animals at the time.