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The power of stories to raise our concern for animals has been postulated throughout history by countless scholars, activists, and writers, including such greats as Thomas Hardy and Leo Tolstoy. This is the first book to investigate that power and explain the psychological and cultural mechanisms behind it. It does so by presenting the results of an experimental project that involved thousands of participants, texts representing various genres and national literatures, and the cooperation of an internationally-acclaimed bestselling author. Combining psychological research with insights from animal studies, ecocriticism and other fields in the environmental humanities, the book not only provides evidence that animal stories can make us care for other species, but also shows that their effects are more complex and fascinating than we have ever thought. In this way, the book makes a groundbreaking contribution to the study of relations between literature and the nonhuman world as well as to the study of how literature changes our minds and society.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the wild animal story emerged in Canadian literature as a distinct genre, in which animals pursue their own interests--survival for themselves, their offspring, and perhaps a mate, or the pure pleasure of their wildness. Bringing together some of the most celebrated wild animal stories, Ralph H. Lutts places them firmly in the context of heated controversies about animal intelligence and purposeful behavior. Widely regarded as entertaining and educational, the early stories--by Charles G.D. Roberts, Ernest Thompson Seton, John Muir, Jack London and other--had an avid readership among adults and children. But some naturalists and at least one hunter--Theodore Roosevelt--discredited these writers as "nature fakers," accusing them of falsely portraying animal behavior

Posthumanism has challenged the social sciences and humanities to rethink anthopocentricism within the cultures and societies they study and to take account of more-than-human agencies and perspectives. This poses key methodological challenges, including a tendency for animal geographies to focus very much on the human side of human–animal relations and to fail to acknowledge animals as embodied, lively, articulate political subjects. In this paper, we draw on recent ethnographic work, observing and participating in the care of research animals and interviewing the animal technologists, to contribute to the understandings of life within the animal house. In so doing, the paper makes three key arguments. Firstly, that studying how animal technologists perform everyday care and make sense of their relationships with animals offers useful insights into the specific skills, expertise and relationships required in order to study human–animal relations. Secondly, that animal technologists are keenly aware of the contested moralities which emerge in animal research environments and can offer an important position from which to understand this. Thirdly, that storytelling (exemplified by the stories told by animal technologists) is a useful resource for animal geographers to engage with complexity in human–animal relations.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Prologue -- Chapter 1: An Accidental Foster Mom -- Chapter 2: Baby Season in the Bird Ward -- Chapter 3: Wolf Watching -- Chapter 4: Lionheart -- Chapter 5: A Tale of Two Bears -- Chapter 6: Rock and Peep: A Love Story -- Chapter 7: Saved at Sea -- Chapter 8: When Polar Bears Come to Town -- Chapter 9: Wildlife in the Kitchen -- Chapter 10: The Last Wild Horses in Canada -- Epilogue -- Further Reading -- Acknowledgements -- About the Author -- More Amazing Stories by Roxanne Willems Snopek

Posthumanism has challenged the social sciences and humanities to rethink anthopocentricism within the cultures and societies they study and to take account of more-than-human agencies and perspectives. This poses key methodological challenges, including a tendency for animal geographies to focus very much on the human side of human–animal relations and to fail to acknowledge animals as embodied, lively, articulate political subjects. In this paper, we draw on recent ethnographic work, observing and participating in the care of research animals and interviewing the animal technologists, to contribute to the understandings of life within the animal house. In so doing, the paper makes three key arguments. Firstly, that studying how animal technologists perform everyday care and make sense of their relationships with animals offers useful insights into the specific skills, expertise and relationships required in order to study human–animal relations. Secondly, that animal technologists are keenly aware of the contested moralities which emerge in animal research environments and can offer an important position from which to understand this. Thirdly, that storytelling (exemplified by the stories told by animal technologists) is a useful resource for animal geographers to engage with complexity in human–animal relations.

Posthumanism has challenged the social sciences and humanities to rethink anthopocentricism within the cultures and societies they study and to take account of more-than-human agencies and perspectives. This poses key methodological challenges, including a tendency for animal geographies to focus very much on the human side of human–animal relations and to fail to acknowledge animals as embodied, lively, articulate political subjects. In this paper, we draw on recent ethnographic work, observing and participating in the care of research animals and interviewing the animal technologists, to contribute to the understandings of life within the animal house. In so doing, the paper makes three key arguments. Firstly, that studying how animal technologists perform everyday care and make sense of their relationships with animals offers useful insights into the specific skills, expertise and relationships required in order to study human–animal relations. Secondly, that animal technologists are keenly aware of the contested moralities which emerge in animal research environments and can offer an important position from which to understand this. Thirdly, that storytelling (exemplified by the stories told by animal technologists) is a useful resource for animal geographers to engage with complexity in human–animal relations.

"HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene is an unflinching book of photography about our conflict with non-human animals around the globe. Through the lenses of thirty award-winning photojournalists, HIDDEN shines a light on the invisible animals in our lives: those with whom we have a close relationship and yet fail to see. The animals we eat and wear; the animals we use for research, work, and for entertainment; the animals we sacrifice in the name of tradition and religion. Showcased by award-winning designer David Griffin, HIDDEN represents the work of over thirty photojournalists who have documented animal stories.

Współczesne społeczeństwa coraz częściej przejawiają empatię oraz uczuciową wrażliwość wobec zwierząt. Transformacja tego typu rodzi potrzebę analizy sytuacji zwierząt i ich dobrostanu w kontekście życia człowieka, jego aktywności fizycznej i wykazywanej (bądź nie wykazywanej) empatii. W historii ludzkości zwierzęta były zawsze ważnymi towarzyszami człowieka, także w odniesieniu do wszelkich form aktywności poznawczej, jak również sportowej. Mając powyższe na uwadze celem niniejszego artykułu jest analiza historycznych uwarunkowań szeroko rozumianej aktywności człowieka z udziałem zwierząt. Tłem analiz uczyniono historię najsłynniejszej podróży, mającej miejsce w XIX wieku, której uczestnikiem był brytyjski przyrodnik i geolog Karol Darwin. Ekspedycja ta jest nośnikiem wielu komunikatów oraz sprawozdań na temat człowieczeństwa, aktywności fizycznej, jak również naszej ludzkiej wrażliwości. Jest to także potężny zasób wiedzy, który może pomóc nam odpowiedzieć na pytanie badawcze o to, na ile obecnie w czasach rozwoju wiedzy z zakresu inteligencji, emocji oraz zachowań społecznych, stosownym jest wykorzystywanie zwierząt do psycho-fizycznego rozwoju ludzi. Rozpoznanie tego typu niesie ze sobą cały bagaż informacji i wskazówek o tym, co nam jako ludziom przynosi chlubę, co nas dyskredytuje, a co może stanowić inspirację uwzględniając nasze dzisiejsze możliwości.

PurposeWhile transhumanists and posthumanists understand the human condition as mutable, for transhumanists, this represents the possibility for enhancement, opening up a teleological narrative of evolution toward. For posthumanists, it represents a fracturing of the liberal human subject, undermining its hegemonic principles. The former advocates the potentiality of instrumental rationality, the latter engages with values, demanding ethical consideration of the implications of the unmooring. This paper aims to conceive of a way to underpin posthumanist thought to enable to serve a more effective critique of transhumanist aims.Design/methodology/approachThis is a theoretical paper that outlines a history of transhumanist thought and the roots of posthumanism. It provides a partially reconstructed enlightenment humanist framework to bolster the effectiveness of posthumanism as a critique of transhumanist thought.FindingsThe paper recognizes Theodor Adorno's conception that the central contradiction inherent to enlightenment thinking is the entanglement of knowledge and power. Hence, the metanarrative of progress as historical fact is fundamentally imbued with an imperial, colonizing force. For reason to achieve its promise as the organ of progress, it must become self-aware of its own limitations and its own potential destructiveness. Humility is, thus, vital in the task of preventing instrumental reason leading to inhuman ends.Originality/valueWhilst developments such as "metahumanism" attempt to bring "posthumanism" and "transhumanism" into direct conversation, it is done from the perspective of uniting their positions. Here, the author endeavors instead to consider their antithetical nature and in particular whether posthumanism can provide an effective critique of transhumanism. Drawing on Adorno and Feenberg in particular, the author attempts to justify the posthuamanist theory but also to employ a partially reconstructed enlightenment humanism to bolster its fruitfulness as a critique of transhumanism.