Considering Animals: Contemporary Studies in Human-Animal Relations

by Carol Freeman, Elizabeth Leane, Yvette Watt

Overview

Taking their cue from the specific 'animal moments' that punctuate our relationships with nonhuman animals, experts from the biological sciences, humanities, and social sciences engage with issues and debates central to human-animal studies. Considering Animals brings together contemporary international case studies from across the globe that examine our interactions with animals. Given current discussions about the status of animals and the widespread extinction of species, this is an important and timely collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781409482314
Publisher:	Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	07/28/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Carol Freeman is a Research Associate in the School of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania.

Elizabeth Leane is a Senior Lecturer in the School of English, Journalism and European Languages at the University of Tasmania.

Yvette Watt is an Associate Lecturer in Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania.

Table of Contents

Contents: Foreword, Marc Bekoff; Introduction, Carol Freeman and Elizabeth Leane; Part 1 Image: Contemporary art and animal rights, Steve Baker; Marching on thin ice: the politics of penguin films, Elizabeth Leane and Stephanie Pfennigwerth; The traumatic effort to understand; Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man, Undine Sellbach; Naming and the unspeakable: representations of animal deaths in some recent South African print media, Wendy Woodward; Possum magic, possum menace: wildlife control and the demonisation of cuteness, Kay Milton. Part 2 Ethics: Pleasure's moral worth, Jonathan Balcombe; The nature of the experimental animal: evolution, vivisection and the Victorian environment, Jed Mayer; 'Room on the ark?': the symbolic nature of US pet evacuation statutes for nonhuman animals, Marsha L. Baum; Making animals matter: why the art world needs to rethink the representation of animals, Yvette Watt. Part 3 Agency: The speech of dumb beasts, Helen Tiffin; Extinction, representation, agency: the case of the dodo, Carol Freeman; Cetaceans and sentiment, Philip Armstrong; Zones of contagion: the Singapore body politic and the body of the street-cat, Lucy Davis; When is nature not?, Tim Low; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

Prize: A Yankee Book Peddler UK Core Title for 2011

'Examining a remarkable range of human-animal relations - from extinctions and historical dolphin encounters to suburban wildlife control, marching penguins, devouring grizzlies, pests, plagues, and pets - the authors in this collection ask us to (re)consider what we think we know about animals, what we do based on that knowledge, and what, finally, animals think of us. This collection provides compelling evidence of the vitality and urgency of the field, while it forces us to ask neglected questions about our disciplines and practices'. Nigel Rothfels, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA and author of Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo

'Considering Animals lines up fresh and passionate writing from prominent scientists, social scientists and humanities scholars exploring our historical and contemporary relationships with other animals. Sharp, provocative and insightful, this energetic volume is essential reading for those new to and established in the field of Human-Animal Studies'. Annie Potts, New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies at the University of Canterbury, and co-author of Kararehe: Animals in New Zealand Art, Writing and Everyday Life

'The inclusion of work from scholars across a wide range of fields, including art and art history, law, social anthropology, literature, and biology, is a clear strength of the book... Recommended.' Choice

'The book’s value lies in suggesting new avenues of thought and pointing to the range, in disciplines and approaches, of contemporary studies. Anyone interested in animals and humans should find something to interest or provoke them.' Environmental History

'On the whole, the essay collection provides a wide-ranging and truly interdisciplinary invitation to consider (nonhuman) animals not as objects, but as subjects with desires, emotions and agency. Particularly those essays that discuss artwork are amply illustrated and an index keeps the material accessible.' Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen

From the Publisher