Digital Commons Network^™

Mutual Rescue: Disabled Animals And Their Caretakers, Lynda Birke, Lori Gruen

Animal Studies Journal

In this paper, we explore how caretakers experience living with disabled companion animals. Drawing on interviews, as well as narratives on websites and other support groups, we examine ways in which caretakers describe the lives of animals they live with, and their various disabilties. The animals were mostly dogs, plus a few cats, with a range of physical disabilities; almost all had been rehomed, often from places specializing in homing disabled animals.

Three themes emerged from analysis of these texts: first, respondents drew heavily on the common narrative of disabled individuals as heroes, often noted in disability rights literature – …

Wild Dogs And Decolonization: Ivan Sen’S Mystery Road And Omar Musa’S Here Come The Dogs, Iris Ralph

Animal Studies Journal

The broad subject of First Nations and decolonial perspectives on animal flourishing is addressed in this paper in a reading of references to canids in Mystery Road (2013), a film by the First Nations-Australian director, Ivan Sen, and Here Come the Dogs (2014), a novel by the Malaysian-Australian author Omar Musa. Dingoes and other wild dogs are a prominent trope in Sen’s film and tie to seemingly perdurable debates about the rights of these animals to flourish in Australia. Dingo advocates argue that dingoes are endemic to Australia, are Australia’s oldest introduced animals, and are a top predator species and …

Zoolondopolis, Pablo P. Castelló

Animal Studies Journal

Imagine a future in which animals had fundamental rights to political participation and voting. What would our towns and cities look like? What kind of infrastructure would we need? And what kind of zoodemocracy would we, animals, co-author? As counterintuitive as it might seem, sometimes what is needed is not a minimal agenda. Animal rights theorists and the animal rights movement more generally have focused for decades on abolishing the farming of animals and on one-issue campaigns such as the abolition of the animal fur trade. These are noble and important pursuits, but what if the driving force to produce …

[Review] Antoinette Burton And Renisa Mawani, Editors. Animalia: An Anti-Imperial Bestiary For Our Times. Durham: Duke University Press, 2020. 240pp., Peta Tait

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Antoinette Burton and Renisa Mawani, editors. Animalia: An Anti-Imperial Bestiary for Our Times. Durham: Duke University Press, 2020. 240pp.

Creativity And Cross-Institutional Collaboration In The Digidex Community Of Practice, Kat Cain, Karen Miller, Kristy Newton

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Responding to industry need, the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) sector-wide approach to developing digital dexterity established a unique practitioner-led network and Community of Practice (CoP). This paper focuses on how a core-group (Digital Dexterity Champions) within the cross-institutional CoP has self-formed a flourishing learning culture that fosters creativity. We explore aspects underpinning the creative collaboration evident within the Champions culture. In sharing stories of creative library practice, we highlight the generative power of initiatives that nurture a sharing culture. We argue for the value of supporting cross-boundary spaces that enable individuals to work creatively together.

The Spotted Hyena In Popular Media And The Biopolitical Implications For Conservation Strategy, Annika Hugosson

Animal Studies Journal

The hyena has been depicted as a villain for millennia, with examples spanning from ancient European texts to today’s popular culture. In the past 30 years, especially, catalysed by Disney’s The Lion King, the hyena-as-villain has been cycled throughout various media. By taking a critical animal studies approach to analysing Western media content depicting hyenas, specifically the spotted hyena, I theorize the implications of morally othering hyenas such that they are rendered killable, which relegates them relative to other species-specific conservation concerns. Hyenas are vilified in part through misrepresentations of their actual ecological roles, the biopolitical ramifications of which are …

(Animal) Oppression: Responding To Questions Of Efficacy And (Il)Legitimacy In Animal Advocacy With A New Collective Action/Master Frame, Paula Arcari

Animal Studies Journal

Across the animal activist/academic community, there is an ongoing dissatisfaction with the movement’s achievements to date, or lack thereof – a sense that it has not achieved as much as expected, hoped for, and needed. While there have undoubtedly been positive changes, overall these efforts constitute a Sisyphean task given that nonhuman animals are entering the Animal-Industrial Complex (A-IC) in increasing numbers and faster than others are saved. Lack of unity, common goals, and related questions of (il)legitimacy are among some of the issues identified with ‘the movement’. In response, this paper proposes a new frame for animal advocacy that …

Cover Page, Table Of Contents, Editorial And Contributor Biographies, Sally Borrell, Clare Archer-Lean

Animal Studies Journal

Animal Studies Journal 2022 11(1): Cover Page, Table of Contents, Editorial and Contributor Biographies.

Snake Church, Sue Hall Pyke

Animal Studies Journal

This paper imagines Snake Church as a post-secular worship practice that reaches with and beyond the vilified serpent held within the limits of Judeo-Christianity. Snake Church offers a devotional practice enlivening enough to shift the languish of a post-secular world where the reasonableness of Enlightenment has crumbled into numbers like 440ppms and 1.5C. The Western empire has been revealed as stark naked, vulnerable, an old skin that cannot hold my world. Snake Church offers me a sacred opiating hope. As I approach a nascent liturgy, here, in the settler-ravaged Stony Rises, home to the Eastern Maar tiger snake and Eastern …

Learning Hope In The Anthropocene: The Party For The Animals And Hope As A Political Practice, Eva Meijer

Animal Studies Journal

This article investigates the role of hope in politics, in the context of the current climate crisis. Hoping for positive transformation may seem naïve and or a way to avoid action, but there is a close connection between hope and democratic action. Understood as a collective political practice, hope can contribute to imagining and articulating alternative futures, and motivate action. The first part of the paper explicates the relevance of the work of Ernst Bloch for the challenges of the Anthropocene. It focuses specifically on learning hope as a collective political practice, the function of utopias in fostering political imagination, …

[Review] ‘Every Moving Thing Shall Be Meat For You.’ A Review Of David Brooks. Animal Dreams. Animal Publics Series, Sydney University Press, 2021. 290 Pp., Michelle Hamadache

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] ‘Every Moving Thing Shall Be Meat for You.’ A review of David Brooks. Animal Dreams. Animal Publics series, Sydney University Press, 2021. 290 pp. Animal Dreams is David Brooks’s third book assailing the vast edifice of the human-animal’s obdurate refusal to rethink its relationship with other animals. It is an erudite and searching contribution to the field of animal studies, and a passionate, persuasive appeal to the mind, heart and senses to change the way of human being-in-the-world that is pushing so many species to extinction and exploiting and truncating the lives of individual animals. Brooks is ‘on the …

[Review] Mieke Roscher, André Krebber, And Brett Mizelle, Editors. Handbook Of Historical Animal Studies. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2021. 637 Pp., David Herman

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Mieke Roscher, André Krebber, and Brett Mizelle, editors. Handbook of Historical Animal Studies. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2021. 637 pp. In their introduction to the volume under review, ‘Writing History after the Animal Turn? An Introduction to Historical Animal Studies’ (1–18), which uses Harriet Ritvo’s 2007 article ‘On the Animal Turn’ as a key reference point, the editors describe as follows the main goal of and broader rationale for the book: "the discourses of human-animal studies and historical animal studies, just like all the other disciplines involved in the reevaluation of the lives of animals and our relationship with …

Indigenous, Settler, Animal; A Triadic Approach, Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, Lynette Russell

Animal Studies Journal

In his Indigenous critique of the field of animal studies, Billy-Ray Belcourt (Driftpile Cree Nation) describes it as having an analytic blind spot when it comes to settler-colonialism, a blind spot that manifests through universalising claims and clumsy arguments about ‘shared’ oppressions, through assumptions that settler colonial political institutions can be a neutral part of the solution, and through a failure to engage with ‘Indigenous studies of other than human life’ (20). In the same article, he calls on decolonial projects to do more to include animality within their purview, to include critiques of animal agriculture and to incorporate critiques …

[Review] Tom Tyler. Game: Animals, Video Games, And Humanity. University Of Minnesota Press, 2022. 152 Pp., Michael Swistara

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Tom Tyler. Game: Animals, Video Games, and Humanity. University of Minnesota Press, 2022. 152 pp.

[Review] Maren Tova Linett. Literary Bioethics: Animality, Disability, And The Human. New York University Press, 2020. Crip: New Directions In Disability Studies. 213 Pages., Wendy Woodward

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Maren Tova Linett. Literary Bioethics: Animality, Disability, and the Human. New York University Press, 2020. Crip: New Directions in Disability Studies. 213 pages.

[Review] Dominic O’Key. Creaturely Forms In Contemporary Literature: Narrating The War Against Animals. Bloomsbury Pub., 2022. 202 Pp., John Drew

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Dominic O’Key. Creaturely Forms in Contemporary Literature: Narrating the War Against Animals. Bloomsbury Pub., 2022. 202 pp.

The Number Game: Counting Kangaroos, David Brooks

Animal Studies Journal

Well over one million kangaroos are shot each year in New South Wales, around half of them for the kangaroo ‘industry’, a harvest underpinned by the annual supply of population estimates sustaining the widespread impression that kangaroos are a ‘pest’, ‘in plague proportions’. Each year these figures, added to historical tables (typically from 1990 onward), are published as part of the state’s Quota Report, upon which the following year’s shooting quota is based. Drawn from aerial surveys, these estimates are nevertheless characterised by the persistent incidence of extraordinary annual population growth rates, well in excess of biological possibility. This …

‘Cultured’ Food Futures? Agricultural Power, New Meat Ontologies, And Law In The Anthropocene, Kelly Struthers Montford

Animal Studies Journal

Animal agriculture in the US and Canada is a colonial geography borne of imported ontologies of property, life, land, and food shaped by and reproducing agricultural power. This article primarily examines the ontologization of in-vitro meat (IVM) and, to a lesser degree, plant-based synthetic meat relative to our current food ontologies. IVM is positioned as the pragmatic solution to food-driven climate catastrophe in that it will supposedly allow consumers to eat meat without the ethical, environmental, safety, or health concerns associated with agriculturally produced meat. I show that arguments for and against new meat technologies pivot on ontological claims about …

[Review] Lynn Turner, Undine Sellbach And Ron Broglio, Editors. The Edinburgh Companion To Animal Studies. Edinburgh University Press, 2018, 2019. 559 Pp., Wendy Woodward

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Lynn Turner, Undine Sellbach and Ron Broglio, editors. The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies. Edinburgh University Press, 2018, 2019. 559 pp.

Transtibial Prosthetic Socket Fitting: Australian Prosthetist Perspectives On Primary Challenges, Management Strategies, And Opportunities For Workflow And Technological Innovation, Lucy E. Armitage, Kirsty A. Mcdonald, Lauren Kark, Angela Buller, Belinda Ford

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Background: Following transtibial amputation, a custom-built socket is the most common interface between the prosthesis and residual limb. Desire from both prosthetists and prosthesis users for improved socket fitting processes have been well documented. However, there is currently limited information available about prosthetists’ experiences of how prosthetic manufacturing workflow can contribute to socket fit problems.

Objectives: This study aims to determine how socket fit problems are currently detected and managed by prosthetists and to identify challenges, management strategies, and opportunities for workflow and technological innovation during prosthesis manufacture and socket fitting.

Study design: Mixed-method (quantitative and qualitative) survey.

Methods: An …

Prehistoric Landslides: Significance, Recognition, Examples, James V. Hamel, David L. Knott, Phil Flentje, Stephen Fityus

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Prehistoric landslides with a wide range of ages and sizes exist worldwide in both rock and soil. Many are thought to have occurred during Pleistocene time when climates in some areas were harsher and wetter. Subsequent weathering and erosion have subdued topography and other features of prehistoric landslides, often making them difficult to recognize. Recognition is the key to dealing with prehistoric and other old landslides. Old slide masses are usually only marginally stable because past movements reduced available shear strength on their failure surfaces to residual levels. These masses are susceptible to reactivation by construction activities, heavy precipitation, and …

Bulli Pass Landslide Risk Management Part 1 – Hazard Assessment, Andrew Hunter, Phil Flentje, Alan Moon

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The Princes Highway along Bulli Pass is a narrow, heavily trafficked two lane section of the Princes Highway that traverses steep slopes on a grade of 9H:1V on the Illawarra Escarpment, about 11 km north of Wollongong, and 75 km south of Sydney in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It is an important arterial road for the northern suburbs of Wollongong, connecting Mt Ousley Road (M1 Princes Motorway) at the crest of the escarpment to the suburb of Thirroul on the coastal plain at the base of the escarpment. Bulli Pass has a long history of landslide and rockfall events, …

Hygrothermal Performance Of Vapour-Permeable Wall Membranes In Cooler Australian Climates: Comparative Modelling And Sensitivity Analysis – Addendum, January 2022, Alan Green, Paul Cooper

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This document has been prepared as an addendum to the report ‘Hygrothermal Performance of Vapour-Permeable Wall Membranes in Cooler Australian Climates: Comparative Modelling and Sensitivity Analysis’ [1] prepared by the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) at the University of Wollongong under the auspices of the Australian Research Council Hub for Australian Steel Innovation. It includes results from an additional set of hygrothermal simulations, as well as further explanation of certain assumptions in the original report.

[Review] Liz P.Y. Chee. Mao’S Bestiary: Medicinal Animals And Modern China. Duke University Press, 2021. 288 Pp., Peter J. Li

Animal Studies Journal

[Review] Liz P.Y. Chee. Mao’s Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China. Duke University Press, 2021. 288 pp. The COVID-19 pandemic has secured its place as a 21st century global public health disaster. It has killed more than 6.2 million and infected close to 500 million people worldwide (Worldometer). Acknowledging Wuhan’s wildlife market as the ground zero of the pandemic and the devastation caused by SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) 17 years earlier, China’s Communist authorities made the long overdue decision on February 24, 2020 and outlawed wildlife breeding and trade for the country’s exotic food market (National People’s Congress of …

Cover Page, Table Of Contents, And Contributor Biographies, Melissa Boyde

Animal Studies Journal

Animal Studies Journal 2022 11(2): Cover Page, Table of Contents, and Contributor Biographies.

A Nude Horse Is A Rude Horse: The Society For Indecency To Naked Animals, Thomas Aiello

Animal Studies Journal

In 1959, Alan Abel began sending out a series of press releases to American media outlets credited to a new organization, The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals. Using the language of conservative moralists opposed to the changes in postwar society, he argued that ‘naked’ animals were scandalous and needed to be clothed. Pets, farm animals, and wildlife were all included, as the organization hued to slogans like ‘a nude horse is a rude horse’ and ‘decency today means morality tomorrow’. Abel employed comedian Buck Henry to play the organization’s president, G. Clifford Prout, who gave interviews and speeches covered …

Indoor Temperatures And Energy Use In Nsw Social Housing, Daniel Daly, Theresa Harada, M P. Tibbs, Paul Cooper, Gordon R. Waitt, Federico Tartarini

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Issues of fuel poverty and thermal discomfort have been identified in social housing internationally, and have been linked with possible health risks for tenants. Statistically, many of the known factors linking poor thermal performance of a dwelling and increased health risk are over-represented in Australian social housing compared with the general housing sector. The results of a mixed-method study undertaken in social housing properties are offered to better understand the relationship between energy consumption and thermal performance in a temperate climate in New South Wales, Australia. The project design combined household energy ethnographies, home energy audits and longitudinal monitoring of …

Genetic Variation For Fusarium Crown Rot Tolerance In Durum Wheat, Gururaj Pralhad Kadkol, Jess Meza, Steven Simpfendorfer, Steve Harden, Brian R. Cullis Professor

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Tolerance to the cereal disease Fusarium crown rot (FCR) was investigated in a set of 34 durum wheat genotypes, with Suntop, (bread wheat) and EGA Bellaroi (durum) as tolerant and intolerant controls, in a series of replicated field trials over four years with inoculated (FCR-i) and non-inoculated (FCR-n) plots of the genotypes. The genotypes included con- ventional durum lines and lines derived from crossing durum with 2–49, a bread wheat geno- type with the highest level of partial resistance to FCR. A split plot trial design was chosen to optimize the efficiency for the prediction of FCR tolerance for each …

Utilizing Qr Codes To Verify The Visual Fidelity Of Image Datasets For Machine Learning, Yang-Wai Chow, Willy Susilo, Jianfang Wang, Richard Buckland, Joon Sang Baek, Jongkil Kim, Nan Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Machine learning is becoming increasingly popular in modern technology and has been adopted in various application areas. However, researchers have demonstrated that machine learning models are vulnerable to adversarial examples in their inputs, which has given rise to a field of research known as adversarial machine learning. Potential adversarial attacks include methods of poisoning datasets by perturbing input samples to mislead machine learning models into producing undesirable results. While such perturbations are often subtle and imperceptible from the perspective of a human, they can greatly affect the performance of machine learning models. This paper presents two methods of verifying the …

Returning To 'The Good Life'? Chickens And Chicken-Keeping During Covid-19 In Britain, Catherine Oliver

Animal Studies Journal

Through the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, humans have been exposed to the threat that the exploitation and eating of animals poses to humanity and public health. It has also become obvious that animals want to and are willing to take up more space. In the relative absence of humans during lockdown, animal populations have spread out and some have entered cities and towns for the first time. At the same time, humans have chosen to bring animals into their domestic spaces in the form of companion animals in staggering numbers. The lockdown’s slowing of time has opened the possibility to …