English and Mexican Dogs: Spectres of Traumatic Pasts in Virginia Woolf’s Flush and MarÍa Luisa Puga’s Las Razones Del Lago

2020 ◽  
pp. 267-281
Author(s):  
Lourdes Parra-Lazcano

This chapter offers a comparative analysis of the English Virginia Woolf’s Flush: A Biography (1933) and the Mexican María Luisa Puga’s Las razones del lago [The Reasons of the Lake] (1991). It aligns the spectre of the traumatic past experienced by the dog Flush with those of the dogs Novela [Novel] and Relato [Story], based on their differing social and cultural contexts. The first section introduces the notion of spectres of traumatic past in nonhuman animal studies. The second establishes a comparison between Flush as a pet and Novela and Relato as semi-stray dogs to show how in each story a traumatic past of confinement has impacted the dogs’ lives. The third section discusses how the dogs’ spectres are associated with their violent past experiences, and the chapter concludes by addressing the human-animal empathy between these dogs and the voices of the writers.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Pauliina Raento

Abstract Postage stamp imagery reveals how humans see other animals in their society; how this relationship changes over time; and in particular political, economic, and cultural contexts; and what the stamp-issuing state wishes to communicate to its citizens. A qualitative mixed-methods exploration of this overlooked, easily accessible visual data identifies trends and representative examples of human-animal relations in Finnish society during the country’s independence (1917-2016). The empirical discussion strengthens method(olog)ical discussion on visual culture and data in animal studies. The examination shows the value of systematic longitudinal data, the inclusion of both consumer and producer perspectives in the analysis, and engagement with scholarly debates outside animal studies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-322
Author(s):  
Cecilia Åsberg

AbstractIn this commentary, the microscopic animals of the genus Rotifera, or “rotifers,” emerge as a theory-provoking nonhuman animal. Rotifers embody otherness in ways that may intrigue scholars within both Human-Animal Studies and feminist science studies. In their encounter with rotifers, such fields of research (and others) might also engage each other in new, unexpected, and fruitful ways, as is here argued.


2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Armstrong

AbstractBecause the notions of "anthropomorphism" and "sentimentality" often are used pejoratively to dismiss research in human-animal studies, there is much to be gained from ongoing and detailed analysis of the changing "structures of feeling" that shape representations and treatments of nonhuman animals. Literary criticism contributes to this project when it pays due attention to differences in historical and cultural contexts. As an example of this approach, a reading of the humanization of cetaceans in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick - and more broadly in nineteenth-century whaling discourse - demonstrates how radically human feelings for nonhuman species are affected by shifting material and ideological conditions.


2019 ◽  
pp. 216-236
Author(s):  
Eva Meijer

In the final chapter, the author discusses how deliberation between human and non-human animals already takes place and how it can be improved, using a systemic perspective on deliberative democracy. The goal of this chapter is to bridge the distance between existing human/non-human animal dialogues at a micro-level, and human political systems. The author first discusses examples of dialogues between human and non-human animals in the animal studies literature. While these examples do justice to individual non-human animal agency, they do not challenge power relations and anthropocentrism at a macro-level. The second section of this chapter therefore turns the focus to deliberative theory. The author analyzes the relation between democratic inclusion and different forms of speech, focusing on non-human animal languages and the embodied and habitual character of political communication in order to incorporate non-human animal voices. In the third section, the author argues for taking into account the temporal, spatial, material, and relational dimensions of the interaction. Section four moves to translate these insights into existing democratic mechanisms by investigating the relevance of the systemic turn in deliberative democracy for incorporating non-human animal agency and interspecies encounters in existing democratic structures.


Author(s):  
Kristina M. MARSHANIYA ◽  
Olga M. USHAKOVA

Each literary era is characterized by certain models of literary animalism with their own semantic accents and symbolism, types of communication “man — animal”, genre preferences. The article examines the features of literary felinistics of the Art Nouveau era, identifies the cultural and social causes of artistic felinophilia. As a material for the study there were three texts written in the period from 1869 to 1939, considered both in the wide cultural context of the modern era, and within the boundaries of their time (modern): “Ménagerie intime”, 1869 by Gaultier T., “The Cats of Copenhagen’’ (1936) by Joyce J. and “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” (1939) by Eliot T. S. In the course of our research, we relied on both historical and literary works devoted to the analysis of specific animalistic images, works of a culturological nature, and also turned to the experience of structuralist studies and the ideas of new posthumanistic knowledge (Human-Animal Studies). The animalistic texts of Gauthier — Joyce — Eliot unite not only the acting cat characters, but also certain artistic perspectives, similar types of human-animal relationships, social and cultural contexts in which their heroes are represented. The feline characters of Gauthier-Joyce-Eliot have much in common: they are anthropomorphic inhabitants of the urban space of the industrial era, leading an appropriate lifestyle and possessing qualities inherent in the middle class. Gautier, Joyce, Eliot’s cats have a bright personality, extraordinary abilities, a lively mind, a rich emotional world, they live according to the laws of human society. They are attractive, intelligent, vital, civilized individuals with unique, eccentric characters (humors).


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laerke Recht

This paper examines the concept of animals as social actors in the ancient Near East through a case study of human–equid relations. In particular, examples where equids may be seen as expressing resistance, as depicted in the iconography of the third and second millenniabc, are analysed. The first part of the paper discusses how animals have been perceived in scholarly debates in philosophy, archaeology and human–animal studies. It is argued that an acknowledgement of animals as social actors can improve our understanding of the human past, and the relation of humans to their broader environment. The second part of the paper presents three examples from the ancient Near East where equids may be interpreted as pushing back or resisting the boundaries placed by humans, resulting in a renegotiation of the relationship.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-833
Author(s):  
Kenneth Shapiro

Abstract This is the third in a series of reports on the state of the field of Human-Animal Studies. In the introductory section, major terms in the prevailing definition of the field—Human-Animal Studies is the interdisciplinary study of human-animal relationships—are unpacked and critically analyzed. Subsequent sections deal with the field’s past, present, and possible futures. A schematic history of the field considers both scholarly contributions and programmatic inroads in the academy. The current state of the field section describes its breadth in terms of publication venues, disciplines that interface with it, and the variety of methods employed. It also offers a description of several common strategies that critique the received view of the categorical divide between human and other animal beings. The final section highlights both the potential of and anticipated roadblocks to each of several future trajectories.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhoda Wilkie

Human-Animal Studies (has) is an innovative field, tarnished by its politicized mixed-species subject matter. This paper considers how nonhuman animal scholars may also be tainted, for different reasons and to varying degrees, because of the academic “dirty work” they perform withinhas. As the field matures, tensions are emerging among this disparate scholarly group. These tensions are associated with the rise of Critical Animal Studies (cas), the extent to which animal scholars should engage in emancipatory-type scholarship and the appearance of the “animal as such–animal as constructed” axis withinhas. This paper draws on these intrafield tensions to form a potential framework that maps scholarly labor withinhas. As scholars begin to debate what counts as “good” and “bad” human-animal scholarship, this may engender the appearance of academic-moral havens. It is suggested that such enclaves may partly mitigate the personal challenges and professional stigma of working in a tarnished academic field.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 991-996
Author(s):  
Gabriela Kirova

Starting with 2018/2019 school year in Bulgaria, the math education in the third grade is implemented through new training kits. They were developed on the basis of the new third-grade mathematics curriculum, approved by Order No. РД 09-1093 / 25.01.2017 of the Minister of Education and Science, Annex No. 8, supplemented by Order No. РД 09-2555 / 15.06.2018 of the Minister of Education and Science. Training kits are approved by the Ministry of Education and Science and are 7 in total. Geometric learning content in new math textbooks is the second most important element after arithmetic content. It is combined with the arithmetic learning content, and by this the foundation of the successful study of geometry in the next school grades is laid. The new geometry knowledge that is included in the third grade curriculum is the following: straight line, curve, beam, angle, right angle, obtuse angle, acute angle, right triangle, acute triangle, obtuse triangle; naming geometric figures with Latin alphabet letters [11]78. It is important in a modern mathematics textbook to have a rich and varied geometric content. It is important that the new types of geometry tasks are introduced with rich visualization using a specific-inductive approach. The relative number of tasks of a given type is an important prerequisite for the successful formation and improvement of skills for solving geometric problems in pupils at the age of 9-10. This article will present a comparative analysis of the geometric content in the seven approved Bulgarian third-grade mathematics textbooks, which are used in the mass practice of this school year. For the purpose of the study, a classification of all types of tasks and exercises with geometric content has been developed. Then the tasks in the seven textbooks are systematized by the so chosen classification. The data are statistically processed taking into account the relative share of tasks of each type within a textbook, as well as a comparison between the relative shares of the geometric tasks in the different textbooks. The established differences in the number and relative share of different types of geometric tasks make it possible for the analyzed textbooks to be ranked. Such a study has not been published so far. It has a relation to the assessment of the quality of the textbooks offered. The conclusions formulated in this article can help primary teachers in their choice of textbooks to teach to their third grade students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Kathrin Burmeister ◽  
Katrin Drasch ◽  
Monika Rinder ◽  
Sebastian Prechsl ◽  
Andrea Peschel ◽  
...  

Only a few birds besides domestic pigeons and poultry can be described as domesticated. Therefore, keeping a pet bird can be challenging, and the human-avian relationship will have a major influence on the quality of this cohabitation. Studies that focus on characterizing the owner-bird relationship generally use adapted cat/dog scales which may not identify its specific features. Following a sociological approach, a concept of human-animal relationship was developed leading to three types of human-animal relationship (impersonal, personal, and close personal). This concept was used to develop a 21-item owner-bird-relationship scale (OBRS). This scale was applied to measure the relationship between pet bird owners (or keepers) (n = 1,444) and their birds in an online survey performed in Germany. Factor analysis revealed that the relationship between owner and bird consisted of four dimensions: the tendency of the owner to anthropomorphize the bird; the social support the bird provides for the owner; the empathy, attentiveness, and respect of the owner toward the bird; and the relationship of the bird toward the owner. More than one quarter of the German bird owners of this sample showed an impersonal, half a personal, and less than a quarter a close personal relationship to their bird. The relationship varied with the socio-demographic characteristics of the owners, such as gender, marital status, and education. This scale supports more comprehensive quantitative research into the human-bird relationship in the broad field of human-animal studies including the psychology and sociology of animals as well as animal welfare and veterinary medicine.


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