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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Grieving Kangaroo Photograph Revisited, David Brooks
The Grieving Kangaroo Photograph Revisited, David Brooks
Animal Studies Journal
Early in 2016 a photograph circulated widely of a male kangaroo holding up a dying female in the presence of a joey. Although initially taken as a moving and powerful photograph of grief, ‘experts’ quickly determined that this male may have killed the female in the process of coition. The male was in effect accused and convicted of rape and murder. Was this judgement correct? Was the male innocent or guilty? What are the nature, strength and politics of the assumptions involved in this judgement? Might he be exonerated, and why should this matter? The photograph is read and contextualised. …
The Australian Animal Use Industry Rejects Anthropomorphism, But Relies On Questionable Science To Block Animal Welfare Improvements, Malcolm Caulfield
The Australian Animal Use Industry Rejects Anthropomorphism, But Relies On Questionable Science To Block Animal Welfare Improvements, Malcolm Caulfield
Animal Studies Journal
Public interest in and concern for the welfare of farm animals is increasing. This has been reflected in changes by food retailers and others whereby products are sourced from suppliers which keep animals in improved conditions. Examples include bans on eggs from hens kept in battery cages, or on pork from pregnant sows kept in sow stalls. Those who use farm animals for profit have sought to resist consumer and public pressure for change, arguing that people’s views are based more on emotion than science. This paper presents a review of the way in which those responsible for developing farm …
Reflections On Anthropocentrism, Anthropomorphism And Impossible Fiction: Towards A Typological Spectrum Of Fictional Animals, Sam Cadman
Animal Studies Journal
There is growing consensus among animal studies scholars that fictional representations of animals, far from representing a discrete site of literary theory, offer insights into broader sociocultural forces and systems relevant to human-animal relations. This article aims to contribute to this developing corpus of interdisciplinary knowledge, and to aid attempts by creative practitioners to self-reflexively challenge the human/animal binary, by laying groundwork for a typological spectrum that might enable assessment of the relative anthropocentrism manifested by different conceptions of fictional animals. I consider philosophical and ethical questions surrounding attempted representations of animal subjectivity in human language, and employ key theoretical …