Animal Studies

Animal Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Animal Studies about their new books.

Larisa Jasarević, "Beekeeping in the End Times" (Indiana UP, 2024)

October 26, 2024

Beekeeping in the End Times

Larisa Jasarević
Hosted by Yadong Li

Every hundred years, as the story goes, two angels wonder out loud whether the bees are still swarming. For as long as the bees are swarming, the ange…

Himanshu Upadhyaya, "Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India (1850–1980)" (Springer, 2024)

October 25, 2024

Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India (1850–1980)

Himanshu Upadhyaya

Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India: Tracing the Pre-history of Green and White Revolutions (Springer 2024) traces the conto…

William T. Taylor, "Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History" (U California Press, 2024)

October 17, 2024

Hoof Beats

William T. Taylor
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Which society was the first to domesticate the horse? It’s a difficult question. The archaeological record is spotty, with only very recent advancemen…

Peter Joshua Atkins, "The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

October 16, 2024

The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4

Peter Joshua Atkins
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary (Bloomsbury, 2022) is a detailed investigation into…

Roberta L. Millstein, "The Land Is Our Community: Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethic for the New Millennium" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

October 10, 2024

The Land Is Our Community

Roberta L. Millstein
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic has been both hugely influential in the environmental conservation movement – and also often misinterpreted. In The Land is …

William T. Taylor, "Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History" (U California Press, 2024)

September 29, 2024

Hoof Beats

William T. Taylor
Hosted by Sarah Newman

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, Willi…

Thomas White, "China's Camel Country: Livestock and Nation-Building at a Pastoral Frontier" (U Washington Press, 2024)

September 14, 2024

China's Camel Country

Thomas White
Hosted by Yadong Li

China today positions itself as a model of state-led environmentalism. On the country’s arid rangelands, grassland conservation policies have targeted…

Whitney Barlow Robles, "Curious Species: How Animals Made Natural History" (Yale UP, 2023)

September 13, 2024

Curious Species

Whitney Barlow Robles

Dive into the world of animals with Whitney Barlow Robles in her captivating new book, Curious Species: How Animals Made Natural History (Yale UP, 202…

David Zeitlyn, "Mambila Divination: Framing Questions, Constructing Answers" (Routledge, 2021)

September 7, 2024

Mambila Divination

David Zeitlyn

Professor David Zeitlyn’s book offers a major contribution to the study and analysis of divination, based on continuing fieldwork with the Mambila in …

David Chaffetz, "Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires" (Norton, 2024)

September 5, 2024

Raiders, Rulers, and Traders

David Chaffetz
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

After reading David Chaffetz’s newest book, you’d think that the horse–not oil–has been humanity’s most important strategic commodity. As David writes…

Julia Kindt, "The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures That Make Us Human" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

September 4, 2024

The Trojan Horse and Other Stories

Julia Kindt

What makes us human? What, if anything, sets us apart from all other creatures? Ever since Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the answer to these q…

Faizah Zakaria, "The Camphor Tree and the Elephant: Religion and Ecological Change in Maritime Southeast Asia" (U Washington Press, 2023)

September 4, 2024

The Camphor Tree and the Elephant

Faizah Zakaria
Hosted by Colum Graham

Recurring tropes about fragmented communities living on frontier forestlands living in Southeast Asia are that they are either guardians of flora and …

Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: : The Horse and the Rise of Empires

August 30, 2024

Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires

David Chaffetz
Hosted by Maggie Freeman

No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. The thread starts in prehistory, with a slight, shy animal, hunted for food. Domesticating th…

Hope Bohanec, "The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs" (Lantern Publishing, 2023)

August 26, 2024

The Humane Hoax

Hope Bohanec
Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

As consumers become increasingly aware of the animal agriculture industry’s cruelty and environmental devastation, clever industry marketers are adapt…

Nick Haddad, "The Last Butterflies: A Scientist's Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature" (Princeton UP, 2019)

August 23, 2024

The Last Butterflies

Nick Haddad
Hosted by Rachel Pagones

Butterflies have long captivated the imagination of humans, from naturalists to children to poets. Indeed it would be hard to imagine a world without …

Gavin Steingo, "Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

August 10, 2024

Interspecies Communication

Gavin Steingo
Hosted by Khadeeja Amenda

In Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity (U Chicago Press, 2024), music scholar Gavin Steingo examines significant cases of atte…

Paul Koudounaris, "Faithful Unto Death: Pet Cemeteries, Animal Graves, and Eternal Devotion" (Thames & Hudson, 2024)

August 9, 2024

Faithful Unto Death

Paul Koudounaris
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Losing a pet has always been a unique kind of pain. No set rituals exist to help provide closure when pets die, there are no readily shared passages f…

Ellie Laks, "Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between" (New World Library, 2024)

August 2, 2024

Cow Hug Therapy

Ellie Laks
Hosted by Maci Zakarin

In Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between (New World Library, 2024), Ellie Laks re…

Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE

July 14, 2024

Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE

Petya Andreeva
Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Numerous Iron-Age nomadic alliances flourished along the 5000-mile Eurasian steppe route. From Crimea to the Mongolian grassland, nomadic image-making…

Kathryn Hughes, "Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)

July 7, 2024

Catland

Kathryn Hughes
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1900, Britain and America were in the grip of a cat craze. An animal that had for centuries been seen as a household servant or urban nuisance had …