Animal Biographies Conference , University of Kassel 9 -11 March
I am pleased to return to the University of Kassel -having spoken there in the Autumn- for an international conference “Animal Biographies:Recovering Selfhood through Interdisciplinary Narration”. This time I am talking about the possibilities of being able to write about two horses Mariana and Trump who bore Laurance Holman on their backs in Hyde Park in the 1940s. Some Animal Studies scholars argue that it is impossible to write about the history of animal experience since all we are doing is using human authored texts. I think it is less clear cut than this and see parallels with debates in women’s and labour history in the past. If it is possible to write about the lives of working people who left no records then arguably it is worth pursuing similar lines of thought in relation to animals.
The conference organised by the dynamic Animal-Human-Society centre at the University of Kassel has many interesting topics including pigeon fancying, parrots, taxidermy, bison, Polish hounds,Topsy the elephant and animal biographies in social media.
It is free (British universities please note) but places are limited. So book now via their website.
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