Category: 31.1 Animal Studies

Specters of Animals Abstract This essay takes its point of departure from the theme of “learning to live” that Jacques Derridaaddresses both in the “Exordium” to Specters of Marx and in his last interview, Learning to Live Finally. For Derrida, I suggest, to learn to live means “to learn to live with ghosts,” in response… Continue reading 31.1 | Dawne McCance

Animal Studies, Indigenous Spacecraft Abstract With the future of all species on Earth under threat within the Capitalocene, what can Animal Studies learn about struggles for futurity from Indigenous authors and artists? This article proposes that the genre of Indigenous Futurism (IF) can guide Animal Studies to decolonize the art and act of imagining multispecies… Continue reading 31.1 | Nicole Shukin

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Grip the Raven Abstract Grip was the first and favorite of several ravens Charles Dickens owned. Dickens declared his lovefor Grip in letters, fictionalized him in Barnaby Rudge (1841), and had the bird taxidermied. After Dickens’ death, the stuffed raven spent years in auctions before landing in Philadelphia, where Dickens… Continue reading 31.1 | Melissa T. Yang

Second Glance at the Panther, or: What Does It Mean to Read Zoopoetically? Abstract This essay conducts a zoopoetic reading of Rainer Maria Rilke’s iconic poem “Der Panther.” It proceeds in three stages: first, I show how the text itself is zoopoetic, that is, projects a model of poiesis that proceeds via embodied animality. Second,… Continue reading 31.1. | Kári Driscoll

The Animal Novel Abstract Our reluctance to take seriously the anthropomorphic terms we routinely employ to describe the novel’s history, form, and social function has prevented us from considering critically the constitutive role of animals in the genesis and development of the genre. In this paper I argue that the figure of the animal, which… Continue reading 31.1 Mario Ortiz-Robles

Masterclass | Holding up a Mirror to the Nonhuman Within: Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Abstract Kari Weil suggests that a “posthumanist autobiography” takes account of the nonhuman that is at the heart of the human author (93). Broadening her concept to include autobiografiction such as Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are… Continue reading 31.1 | Alice Lambert

Where to Look, What to Emphasise: The Conflict of Dividing Attention between the Individual Animal and the Global Process of Climate Change—at Rotterdam Zoo Abstract A thick description of a field trip to Rotterdam Zoo, I use the polar bear exhibit as an example of how the zoo shapes the encounter between visitor and animal… Continue reading 31.1 | Vincent Reijnders

Foreword to Animal Studies