University of Strathclyde website

London, 2007-2009

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Organised with financial support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Middlesex University, and under the direction of Erica Fudge, The British Animal Studies Network met in central London on ten occasions between May 2007 and February 2009. It was a meeting point for scholars at all levels of study from different disciplinary backgrounds working in the field of Animal Studies in the UK and beyond. Meetings were held on Saturday afternoons from 1.30-5.30 and administrative support was provided throughout by Sally Borrell.
 
The meetings
 
Very broad titles were deliberately chosen for each meeting to allow speakers from different fields to take up the focus in different ways and to allow for disciplinary differences to be made apparent even as similarities of interest were clear.
 
1.   The History of Animal Studies (26 May 2007)
Jonathan Burt (History/Theory, independent Scholar), 'Does Animal Studies have a History?'
David Matless (Geography, Nottingham University), 'Animal Landscapes'
Nigel Rothfels (History, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA), 'Following the Spoor / Writing History'
Discussant: Erica Fudge (Renaissance Studies, Middlesex University)
 
2.   'Humans, Animals and Posthumanism' (28 July 2007)
Ron Broglio (Cultural Studies, Georgia Tech, USA), 'Logic of the Surface: Nagel, Uexkull, and Contemporary Animal Art'
Lynda Birke (Animal Behaviour, Chester University), 'Maintaining Integrity? Boundaries, Bodies & Biology'
Neil Badmington (Theory, Cardiff University), 'Posthumanimals: The Debt to Animal Studies'
Discussant: Martha Fleming (Artist/Curator, independent scholar)
 
3.   'Anthropomorphism' (29 September 2007)
Hilda Kean (History, Ruskin College), 'Animal statues: making the animal human or the human more human?'
Anat Pick (Film Studies, University of East London), 'Disfigurations: Werner Herzog's Creatures and the Anthropomorphical Fallacy'
Richard Kerridge (Ecocriticism, Bath Spa University), 'Anthropomorphism as a sophisticated and sensitive device'
Discussant: Wendy Wheeler (Literary/Political Theory, LondonMetropolitanUniversity)
 
4.   'Anthropology and Animals' (17 November 2007)
Garry Marvin (Anthropology, Roehampton University), 'Living With and Living From Animals: Some Anthropological Perspectives on Human-Animal Relations'
Piers Vitebsky (Anthropology, Scott Polar Institute, Cambridge), 'Shamanism and Animals'
Discussant: Roy Ellen (Anthropology, University of Kent)
 
5.   'Representing Animals' (9 February 2008)
Diana Donald (Art History, Manchester Metropolitan University), 'Visual Representation of Animals: the Problems of Realism'
Gail Davies (Geography, University College London), 'Representing transgenic animals: the place and politics of debates about species identity'
Philip Armstrong (Literary Studies, University of Canterbury, New Zealand), 'Feral Feelings: Animals, Agency and Affect in Narrative Fiction'
Discussant: John Simons (Literary Studies, Lincoln University)
 
6.   'Children and Animals' (26 April 2008)
Victoria de Rijke (Childhood Studies, Middlesex University), 'Fables of Babel: Children, Animals and Onomatopeoia'
Paul Wells (Media Studies, Loughborough University), 'Clay Cats, Cartoon Bats and Computer Rats: Themes and Issues in the Animated Bestiary'
Susan Pearson (History, Northwestern University, USA), 'Sentiment and Savagery: Linking Animals and Children in Nineteenth-Century America'
Discussant: Sue Walsh (Children’s Literary Studies, Reading University)
 
7.   'Companion Animals' (28 June 2008)
Emily Brady (Geography, Edinburgh University), 'Autonomy, Anthropomorphism, Aesthetics'
Clare Palmer (Environmental Ethics, Washington University in St Louis, USA), 'Power Relations, Cognition and Character in Hearne's Adam’s Task'
Julie Ann Smith (Activist/Literary Studies, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater), 'Dominance and Submission in America: Cesar Milan's World of Dogs and the Humans Who Obey Them'
Discussant: Robert McKay (Literary Studies, Sheffield University)
 
8.   'Animal Futures' (25 October 2008)
Steve Baker (Visual Studies, University of Central Lancashire), 'Art's Animal Futures'
Rebecca Cassidy (Anthropology, Goldsmiths College), 'Making the Kyrgyz horse'
Susan McHugh (Literary Studies, University of New England, USA), '"Real Artificial Meat" and the Future of Animal Agency'
Discussant: Simon Glendinning (Philosophy, London School of Economics)
 
9.   'The Place of Animals' (6 December 2008)
Lewis Holloway (Geography, Hull University), 'Fragments of Some Modern Animal Geographies'
Chris Wilbert (Geography, Anglia Ruskin University), 'Towards New Animal Bio-Geographies?'
Steve Hinchliffe (Geography, Exeter University), 'Parallel Lives: Humans and Animals in Conversation'
Discussant: David Demeritt (Geography, King’s College London)
 
10.   'The Future of Animal Studies' (21 February 2009)
Tom Tyler (Media Studies, Oxford Brookes University), 'Canine Visions'
Erica Fudge (Renaissance Studies, Middlesex University), 'A Project for Animal History'
Donna Haraway (Philosophy, University of California Santa Cruz), 'When Species Meet: Ethical Attachment Sites for Out-of-Place Companions'