Animal Studies

ASI-WAS Human-Animal Studies Fellowship Program

The Human-Animal Studies Fellowship Program is an annual six-week summer residency that brings together six to eight Animal Studies scholars. Fellows have a PhD or equivalent, or are ABD; are actively working in the field of Animal Studies; and must have a research or writing project that they are engaged in during the duration of the fellowship. Chosen scholars are awarded a stipend that is used to cover travel costs and living expenses during their residency. Recipients of fellowships are expected to be in continuous residence at Wesleyan for the six-week period and to participate in and make a contribution to the intellectual life of the Program through participating in a series of workshops and guest lectures. Fellows will also form a community among themselves and will be expected to communicate with each other about their research.

2011 ASI-WAS Summer Conference Schedule

The conference will be held in Usdan 108 on the Wesleyan University Campus, in beautiful Middletown, Connecticut, from June 27-June 30, 2011. To view a map of the campus, visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/about/campusmap.html. 

 

Monday, 6/27            

4:00. Kenneth Shapiro, Executive Director, Animals and Society Institute. “Welcome.”

4:15. Robert Mitchell, Professor of Psychology, Eastern Kentucky University. “Why do people laugh when playing with a dog?” 

4:45. Discussion

5:00. Paul Waldau, Head Faculty for the Anthrozoology graduate program, Canisius College. “Animal Studies in the Key of Animal Rights.”

5:30. Discussion

 

Tuesday, 6/28                       

9:00. Kelly Enright, Writer and Museum Consultant.  “Extinction: How we lose, mourn, and live with lost species.”

9:30. Kari Weil comments

9:45. Discussion

10:00. Kari Weil, University Professor of Letters at Wesleyan University. “Animal Deaths and Melancholy Becomings.”

10:30. Discussion

11:00. Break

11:30. Stephan Blatti. Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis. “The Dying Animal.”

12:00. Alastair Norcross comments

12:15. Discussion

12:30. Alastair Norcross, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder. “The Significance of Death for Animals.”

1:00. Discussion

1:30 Lunch

2:30. Kery Chez, Ph.D. Candidate in English, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  “The Affect of Humaneness: Humane Movements and Pet-Keeping in Late Nineteenth-Century England and America.”

3:00. Ivan Kreilkamp comments

3:15. Discussion

3:30. Ivan Kreilkamp, Associate Professor of Victorian Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. “Infinite Compassion:” Nonhuman Life in Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Far.”

4:00. Discussion

 

Wednesday, 6/29                  

9:00. Richie Nimmo. Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester. “Primate Visionaries: Constituting Hybrid Knowledges on the Human-Nonhuman Boundary.”

9:30. Lori Gruen comments

9:45. Discussion

10:00. Lori Gruen, Chair and Professor of Philosophy, Environmental Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University. “Pan thanatology -- Mourning Chimpanzees.”

10:30. Discussion

11:00. Break

11:30. Elizabeth Johnson. PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Minnesota. “Animating Futures, Reanimating Biopolitics: Animals, Technology and Future.”

12:00. Susan Squier comments

12:15. Discussion

12:30. Susan Squier, Professor of Women's Studies, English, and STS (Science, Technology, and Society) at The Pennsylvania State University, as well as Acting Director of the STS program. “Hybridity.”

1:00. Discussion

1:30. Lunch

2:30. Abebaw Gashaw Kebede. Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. “Improving Community Animal Welfare in Jimma Zone.”

3:00. Andrew Rowan comments

3:15. Discussion

3:30. Andrew Rowan, President and CEO of Humane Society International, Chief International Officer and Chief Scientific Officer for The Humane Society of the United States. “Revisiting Leach: Animal Names, Images and Concepts.  Why are they so Challenging?” 

4:00. Discussion

 

Thursday, 6/30

11:00. Alastair Hunt. Assistant Professor of English, Portland State University.  “The Romantic Rhetoric of the Human.”

11:30. Ron Broglio comments

11:45. Discussion

12:00. Ron Broglio, Assistant Professor of English at Arizona State University. “Vulnerability and Hospitality in Figuring the Animal Revolution: Events to Come.”

12:30. Discussion

1:00. Lunch

2:00. Joshua Russell. PhD Candidate, Environmental Studies, York University. “On Lifetimes:  Children’s Experiences of Animal Death.”

2:30. Susan McHugh comments

2:45. Discussion

3:00. Susan McHugh, Professor of English at University of New England. “Hybrid Species and Narratives in Ibrahim al-Konis’ Fiction.”

3:30. Discussion

4:00. End of Conference

 

To learn more about this year's fellows go here.