Dear Friends and Colleagues,



Welcome to the Animals & Society Institute's Human-Animal Studies Report. The Report is back on track for monthly distribution after a hiatus, during which time we at ASI have completed several exciting research projects which I’ll be sharing with you over the next few months.

The first is a Special Issue of the ASI-managed Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science that is entirely Open Access, discussed in the ASI News section directly below. 

The time off from the HAS Report also may have meant that the deadlines passed on some very interesting CFPs and conferences sent to me by some of you. If yours was one of these, for this I apologize. Now that I’m back up and running, please do continue to send me notices of your important HAS activities.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our Human-Animal Studies efforts. Stay healthy and safe, and do what you can to protect those you can.

Best,

Gala

Editor’s note: The HAS e-newsletter is organized as follows: Jobs, grants, and calls are ordered chronologically by deadline dates, with the earliest first, and will continue to be posted until the deadlines expire. Books and articles include, where possible, links to access them directly from this email. Because publication reference styles vary by source, they might not always be consistent or pretty, but they will get you there. To read more about the topics discussed, click the bold hyperlinks for source material and additional information.

Please send your comments, suggestions, and submissions to: gala.argent@animalsandsociety.org, and if possible include a URL link to your project or announcement.





ASI is excited to make Open Access all articles in the Special Issue of its managed journal, the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science (JAAWS), themed “Human-Animal Relationships and Welfare in the Anthropocene: Pandemics, Climate Change, and other Disasters.” Our special thanks go to the Summerlee Foundation, for assistance with making all articles in the issue Open Access.

The Special Issue brings animal others into broader discussions about welfare, health, disaster management, and ethics in this time of extremes, where the current pandemic and the climate crisis facing our planet are placing both human and nonhuman animal lives and livelihoods at risk. And although we are all COVID-fatigued, the topics covered in this seven-article Special Issue carry forward as issues of concern. As editor of the Special Issue, I argue in my introduction for the need for scholars to recalibrating the investigative scope of animal welfare studies to include the climate crisis and other environmental issues during the crucial times we now face. 

We at ASI are happy to see fellows from our ASI Summer Institutes contributing to the HAS field! We congratulate ASI-Wesleyan 2010 fellow, Jenny Vermilya, on her new book: Identity, Gender, and Tracking: The Reality of Boundaries for Veterinary Students. The book explores the experience of enrollment in an educational program that tracks students based on the species of animals that they wish to treat and includes a chapter that sprang from ideas fostered at the Institute. 

We also congratulate 2021 ASI-UIUC Summer Institute fellow Kimber Sider on this new publication, Playing with Horses: Improvisation and Communication. Abstract: Listening to animals is not only about hearing howls, chirps, snorts, mews, nickers, and other vocal articulations; it is about recognizing preferences, perspectives, and relationships that animals communicate through movement, gesture, feeling, and resonance. When humans observe the complex ways that animals make meaning through performance, space emerges for animals to claim their rights to voice and agency in the presence of humans.



The shooters in the horrific tragedies in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, N.Y.—like so many others—had histories of animal cruelty, and the National Link Coalition LINK-Letter includes a call for greater recognition by law enforcement and therapists of animal abuse’s warning signs for potential mass violence. Also covered: Maine now prohibits domestic violence abusers who also harmed animals from owning firearms. Louisiana joins the growing list of states allowing veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse. And there are exciting developments with Link counterparts in Canada and France.

The Americas have a long, strange history with milk. While the domestication of animals was a widespread practice in several pre-Columbian cultures, the introduction of milk to the diet on the continent began only in the 16th century as part of the process of territorial occupation and colonial domination. Sentient Media’s article, Dairy in the Americas: How Colonialism Left Its Mark on the Continent, explores the colonial footprint of the dairy industry and the legacy that remains. 



ASPCA research-related grants are available for research, including Access to Veterinary Care, Applied Animal Behaviour, Cruelty Research, and Psychological Trauma. Grants are available to investigators and/or research teams affiliated with a public or nonprofit entity, such as a university, college, veterinary hospital or clinic, or other institution. Also available is the new ASPCA Open-Access Publishing Fund (OAPF) 2022, a research funding program that accepts applications on an ongoing basis to cover the costs of open-access publishing.

The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law invites applications for Visiting Researchers and Visiting Fellows to the Centre for an 8-week research visit during Cambridge University Lent Term (17 January – 17 March 2023). Funding is available up to £2,000 for Visiting Researchers and £3,000 for Visiting Fellows to reimburse the costs of accommodation and travel. Extra funding for living expenses is available for candidates who can provide evidence that they would otherwise not be able to take up the position. The deadline for applications is 15 August 2022. Visit the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law for more information about the positions and on how to apply. 

Sentient Media, a nonprofit journalism organization that seeks to create transparency around the roles of animals in our daily lives—from food to companionship to laboratory test subjects—is inviting writers who would like to build their voice as a writer and advocate, to apply to join the Writers’ Collective. Apply here.

This section includes both upcoming live events, and past events that were recorded.

The webinar, “From of Ants to Elephants: Protecting the Interests of Nonhuman and Human Animals through Animal Law in South Africa,” will provide a high-level introduction to and overview of this exciting, complex and burgeoning area as well as its practicalities in the South African context, and will take place 17:00-18:30 SAST on August 17, 2022. 

In a Conversation on Race, Animality and Black Veganism, Pablo P. Castello talks with Christopher Carter and Lindgren Johnson. Throughout the conversation we learn about Christopher and Lindgren’s background, why (and how) animals are racialized, why (and how) Black people are animalised, the importance of the concepts of the Human and whiteness to discriminate against minoritized groups, and the meaning of Black veganism and soul food. 

In Episode 187 of Knowing Animals’ podcast series, Protecting Animals, Dr Margo DeMello, Assistant Professor of Anthrozoology at Carroll College in Montana, discusses her textbook Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies, from Columbia Press. The first edition was published in 2012, but an updated second edition was published in 2021. 

On Episode 188 of Knowing Animals’ podcast series, Professor Gregory Tague, Professor in the Department of Literature, Writing and Publishing and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at St. Francis College, New York, talks about his monograph An Ape Ethic and the Question of Personhood, which was published by Lexington Books in 2020.

Animal history, or more specifically the history of human-animal relations, is currently a vigorous and important field within historical studies. This field, which began to emerge in the 1980s, cannot be thought about, discussed, taught or investigated without including the name of the eminent historian Harriet Ritvo who is a recognized international authority on the subject and a pioneer in this field of research. In this interview with Professor Harriet Ritvo, she discusses aspects of her academic trajectory, as well as important features of animal history, such as interactions between this area and other fields in which she also works: environmental history, the history of science and the history of technology. 

At a time when marine parks and aquariums are coming under increasing scrutiny, the work of award-winning photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur is more revealing than ever in showing us what life is like for the animals at these facilities. Dr. Lori Marino founder of the Whale Sanctuary Project explores with Jo-Anne what some of her photographs reveal about the lives of dolphins and whales in entertainment. View the conversation here. 

Check out Cory Wrenn’s keynote presentation on “Vegan Sociology” at the recent conference, Doing Global Gender: Perspectives on Gender and Re-Globalization.

Following are some recent books published of interest to the field of Human-Animal Studies.

Arluke, A., Sanders, C. R., Irvine, L. 2022. Regarding Animals. 2^nd. Ed. Temple University Press: Philadelphia.

Birke, L. and Wels, H., Eds., 2021. Dreaming of Pegasus: Equine Imaginings. Lynda Birke and Harry Wels. Victorina Press.

Blazina, C., 2021. One unwavering friend: Heartwarming tales of men and dogs. Filament Press.

Ellis, E., 2022. Australian Animal Law: Context and Critique. Sydney University Press.

Gruen, L., & Marceau, J., Eds., (2022). Carceral Logics: Human Incarceration and Animal Captivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Howie, A. R., 2021. Assessing Handlers for Competence in Animal-Assisted Interventions. Purdue University Press. 

Kompatscher, G., Spannring, R., & Schachinger, K., 2021. Human-Animal Studies. Eine Einführung für Studierende und Lehrende. (German). UTB.

Recht, L, 2022. The Spirited Horse: Equid–Human Relations in the Bronze Age Near East. Bloomsbury.

Recio, B., 2022. Your Inner Zoo: A Guide to the Meaning of Animals and the Insights They Offer Us. Skyhorse Publishing: New York.

Vermilya, J., 2022. Identity, Gender, and Tracking: The Reality of Boundaries for Veterinary Students. Purdue University Press.

Following are some recent research articles and book chapters published in the field of Human-Animal Studies.

Alves, A., 2021. The animal question: the Anthropocene’s hidden foundational debate. (La cuestión animal: el debate fundacional oculto del Antropoceno.) História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos, 28(1). 

Argent, G., Ed., 2022. Special Issue: Human-Animal Relationships and Welfare in the Anthropocene: Pandemics, Climate Change, and other Disasters. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 25(2).

Campbell, A. M. 2022. The Intertwined Well-Being of Children and Non-Human Animals: An Analysis of Animal Control Reports Involving Children. Social Sciences, 11(2), 46. 

Desmond, J., and B. B. Tischleder, 2022. On the Rich Choreographies of Critical Thought: From Dancing Bodies to Human-Animal Relations in Art, Anthropology, and American Studies: A Conversation with Jane Desmond. New American Studies Journal: A Forum, vol. 72.

Hirsch-Matsioulas, O., Ben-Yonatan, A., Chen, L., Sadetzki, Y., & Shir-Vertesh, D., 2022. Human-Animal Studies in Israel: A Field in the Making. Society & Animals (published online ahead of print 2022). 

Jones, M. 2022. Why the recognition of sentience is so important for animal welfare: Commentary on Rowan et al. on Sentience Politics. Animal Sentience. 2022.425 pp:1-3.

Lockwood, A. 2020. [Review] Jason Hannan, editor. Meatsplaining: The Animal Agriculture Industry and the Rhetoric of Denial. Sydney: Sydney University Press. 334 pp., Animal Studies Journal, 10(2), 2021, 235-239.

Marchesini, R. and Celentano, M. 2021. Interspecific Cultural Studies and Numanities: The Comparative Study of Animal Traditions Beyond the Separation Between Humanities and Life Sciences. In: Critical Ethology and Post-Anthropocentric Ethics. Numanities – Arts and Humanities in Progress, 16. Springer. 

Patterson-Kane, E. G., Kogan, L. R., Gupta, M. E., Touroo, R., Niestat, L. N., & Kennedy-Benson, A., 2022). Veterinary needs for animal cruelty recognition and response in the United States center on training and workplace policies, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (published online ahead of print 2022). 

Petitt, A., & Brandt-Off, K. 2022. Zoocialization: Learning Together, Becoming Together in a Multispecies Triad, Society & Animals (published online ahead of print 2022).

Rutz, C., 2022. Studying pauses and pulses in human mobility and their environmental impacts. Nat Rev Earth Environ, 3, 157–159.

Sider, K. 2021. Playing with Horses: Improvisation and Communication, TDR, 65(3), pp. 91–102. 

Strauss E.G., McCune, S., MacLean, E., and Fine, A. 2021. Editorial: Our Connection: The History, Benefits and Future of Human-Dog Interactions. Front. Vet. Sci. 8, 784491.



The career book, "Careers in One Health: Social Workers’ Roles in Caring for Humans and their Animal Companions" is at the intersection of social work, veterinary medicine, and the human animal bond, and is looking for contributions from passionate social work professionals. Chapter applications (including a 2-3 sentence description) can be submitted via this survey and will be accepted until Aug 31, 2022.

The special issue of Philosophy and Global Affairs invites contributors who would address the spirit of Eduardo Kohn’s provocative book, How Forests Think, evaluatively, generatively, and critically. Articles of various kinds are welcome. They may, for example, address how How Forests Think has transformed discourses or what it would mean to think with Kohn beyond Kohn or place Kohn’s intellectual frameworks into their genealogical context or put the text’s ideas in critical-generative conversation with other thinkers and scholarly traditions or with otherwise worlds. Please send inquiries and abstracts to both pga.submissions@gmail.com and alexander.stingl@nuigalway.ie by September 1, 2022.

Plants and Animals: Interdisciplinary Approaches, edited by Susan McHugh and Patrícia Vieira, is a new book series that aims to publish scholarly work that addresses common challenges across the fields of plant and animal studies from interdisciplinary perspectives. The series welcomes monographs and edited collections that focus and reflect upon interactions of plants, animals, and humans in innovative ways. Grounded in the humanities, Plants and Animals welcomes trans-disciplinary perspectives that engage with scholarship in the social sciences and in the natural sciences. Proposals are welcome for monographs or edited collections. For further information, please contact Dr. Laurel Plapp, Senior Acquisitions Editor, at l.plapp@peterlang.com. No deadline given.

Through the innovative interface of Posthumanities and Citizen Humanities, the Rowman and Littlefield Posthumanities and Citizen Futures Series examine the changing status of subject, subjectivity, agency, humanity and citizenship, depending on the complex relationships between nature, technology, science, and culture. Proposals are invited by crosscultural and transnational approaches as this series seeks to foster an ongoing dialogue between academics and scholars across the globe by featuring monographs and edited collections exploring new narrations, raised by intersections among biosphere and technosphere in a more-than-human citizenship world. Contact Peggy Karpouzou at pkarpouzou@phil.oua.gr, Nikoleta Zampaki at nikzamp@phil.uoa.gr, or Courtney Morales at cmorales@rowman.com. No deadline given.

The Environmental Humanities Series highlights innovative scholarship at the interface of literary and cultural studies about the concepts of environment, nature, subjectivity, and species, by examining the intersections between the human and non-human life forms, their changing status, and their role within the natural world. Proposals are invited in the range of topics covered by Environmental Studies and Ecocriticism, including but not limited to works informed by cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approaches The Environmental Humanities Series seeks to foster an ongoing dialogue between academics and scholars across the globe by featuring monographs, handbooks, and edited collections exploring various narratives, raised by the intersections between the species and their role in shaping a more sustainable future. Click here to submit to book proposal. No deadline given.

This section includes conferences for which the deadline for submittals is closed, but registration is open.

The annual Oxford Animal Ethics Summer School will take place on August 7-10 2022. This year’s theme is “Animals and Public Policy: Embodying, Implementing, and Institutionalizing Animal Ethics.” Registration is currently open.

The University of Lisbon’s HAS Hub is accepting applications for the second edition of their Postgraduate course, Animals and Society. This course is for candidates who are interested in studying the relationships between humans and non-human animals. Applicants who work directly in the area of ​​human-animal relations, or whose activity and interests intersect with the theme, are also welcome to apply. Applications are open until August, 26 2022 and can be submitted here.

The in-person international conference, “Discussing Equine Ethics – Taking Stock from Theory and Practice,” is scheduled for September 1-2, 2022 in Fribourg, Switzerland. Keynote speakers are Kendra Coulter and Stéphane Montavon, with talks from Gala Argent, Nora Schuurman and Alex Franklin, Anastasija Ropa, Marthe Kiley-Worthington, and Debbie Busby, among others. Find the program and contact information at the bottom of the linked page above.

The first symposium organized by the Global Research Network’s Think Tank on Animals & Biodiversity program on “Animals in Wars & Disasters” will take place September 3-4, 2022, from 3pm to 7pm BST. The symposium aims to address the plight and the inconsistencies in the prevention, protection, and rescue of non-human animals from wars, and natural and anthropogenic disasters. Find out more and register for this free symposium here.

The 4th annual Canadian Animal Law Conference will take place on September 16-18, 2022. Presented by Animal Justice, the in-person conference will bring together animal lawyers, scholars, advocates, and students to reflect on the conference theme of Animal Law: Peril and Progress. 

Tickets for the third annual virtual meeting of the International Association of Vegan Sociologists, Vegan Sociologies of Space and Time, October 8-9, 2022 are free and available here.

The 30^th Annual Animal Law Conference, co-presented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Center for Animal Law Studies, will take place in-person in Portand, Oregon and live online on November 4-6, 2022. Ticket registration is open and can be purchased here.

As you can see, ASI is promoting a tremendous amount of activity in the field of Human-Animal Studies. We always invite your input and participation.

Your donation to the Animals & Society Institute will enable us to continue to expand the field in many more ways and work in conjunction with others around the world who share these goals.

Thank you for supporting ASI's Human-Animal Studies efforts!