Dogs play important and unique roles in the lives of humans, and vice versa. These intimate human-canine bonds date back centuries and are dynamic through time and place. Fascinated by the contemporary phenomenon of dogs as family members in our own intimate circle and interested in the wider discourse of culturenatures or naturecultures (Haraway, 2003), the idea of this workshop arose. By making ‘feminist canine ethnography’ the focus of exploration, this workshop – organized by Reinhilde König (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) and Irene Arends (CEDLA, Universiteit van Amsterdam) – departs from the question how gender notions both reflect and shape the ways humans perceive and engage with dogs.
‘Human-animal studies’ and ‘gender studies’ are both well-established fields of scholarship. With this workshop, we aim to bring to the fore the resonances that these two bodies of work have regarding canine-human relationships. Eco-Feminists have already pointed at the universal exploitation of wo/men, nature and non- human animals. And scholars focusing on the classification of species, argue that mechanisms of exclusion and power politics – that are all too familiar to race and gender scholars – are also deeply rooted in the hierarchical relations between human and non- human animals (Meijer, 2017). We believe therefore that it is important to look at the intersectionality of speciesism with gender and invite everyone who is interested in exploring this topic with us.
In this call for presentations we seek submissions on the topic of canine ethnography. We encourage submissions that theorize human- dog relationships from a gender and feminist perspective, and embrace experimental presentations in all forms, theoretical as well as practical. The workshop is structured by roundtable sessions and topics might include (but are not limited to): Companion- and kinship; symbolism and social status; pet- and adoption culture; dog rights and activism; death and dying; funny dogs and social media representations; dog labor and learning; research with dogs; language and discourse regarding dog-human relationships.
Visitor/auditor registration is required and free of charge. The fee for the (vegan) lunch is €10.
Please register by sending your e-mail to: rkonig97@gmail.com and i.s.m.arends@cedla.nl.
This LOVA workshop is made possible with the support of the University of Amsterdam and CEDLA (Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation).
Do you wish to attend but you have not registered yet? Be fast, seats are limited! Send an email before 15 January to: rkonig97@gmail.com and i.s.m.arends@cedla.nl. Upon registration you will receive the full program, including abstracts.
We are planning to go live during the day, so keep an eye on the LOVA Facebook page!
The morning program takes place at the JK building of Roeterseiland University campus: Valckeniersstraat 65-67. For lunch and the afternoon program we will walk together to CEDLA: Roetersstraat 33.
Walk-in & Coffee 9.00 – 9.30, Room JK3.05B
Welcome words: Irene & Reinhilde 9.30 -10.00
Assembly (JK3.05B) Kennel 1: Dogs in the Picture 10.00-11.40
1.) Charli Brissey, University of Michigan (10.00)
Canis Major: Imagining radical interspecies futures at the end of the world
2.) Maythe Han, University of Edinburgh (10.20)
More-than-human methods and ethics in canine ethnographic research
3.) Lee Deigaard, Independent researcher & artist (10.40)
Vixen.Vector: chronicling sympathetic alignments and other canine geometries
4.) Holly Hughes, University of Michigan (11.00)
The Dog and Pony Show (Bring Your Own Pony)
Discussion: 11.20 – 11.40
Parallel sessions
Kennel 2: Love & Learning (JK3.05B) 11.45 – 13.00
5.) Rebekah Fox, University of Warwick (11.45)
A feminist approach to multi-species ethnography
6.) Constanze Gülle, Humbold University of Berlin (12.05)
Gender aspects in canine pedagogy
7.) Bernardo Couto Soares, University of Amsterdam (12.25)
Animal Shelter: Intra-actions between humans and nonhuman animals in processes of domestication (research proposal)
Discussion: 12.45– 13.00
Kennel 3: Digital Dogs (JK3.88A) 11.45- 13.00
8.) Jennie Doyle, Queen Mary University of London (11.45)
Pawfect and Impawtent: Border Terriers on Twitter
9.) Isabel de Berrie (12.05)
Le Tombeau de Gabe: the death of an internet meme and the gendered work of mourning
10.) Fernando González, University of Amsterdam (12.25)
Cosmetic anthropomorphism and visual and framing of the zoomorphic self (research proposal)
Discussion: 12.45– 13.00
Feeding time (Vegan lunch) 13.00-14.00
Workshop (Cedla, 2nd floor) 14.00-14.30
11.) Angela Bartram, University of Derby
‘Be your dog’
Free roaming (Coffee break) 14.30-15.00
Keynote lecture (Cedla, 2nd floor) 15.00-16.00
12.) Eva Meijer, Wageningen University
Stray Philosophy: Dog/Human Reflections on Boundaries, Care and Forming New Interspecies Communities
Abstract: In order to overcome human bias and challenge anthropocentrism in different strands of research, animal researchers need to foreground nonhuman animal agency and voices. One way to do this is by studying more-than-human animals in their habitats, either in the natural world or in shared multispecies households. In this type of research with social animals, relations are not to be avoided, but to be approached differently. In my talk I focus on thinking with other animals. Specifically, I investigate how concepts such as care and agency can be informed by living with dogs, and how their agency can shape new forms of community. My dog companions Doris and Olli are my partners in this project, though I will be the one giving the talk.
Closing Assembly Barking, Play and Fight 16.00-16.30
Drinks and Treats
Back into the wild