Date of Event: May 9-10 2013
Representations and expressions of love between humans and non-human animals suffuse contemporary U.S. culture. There is the love-at-a-distance of the feral cat rescuer, the often- deadly love of the cattle rancher, and the everyday love of the poop-scooping dog owner. There is the loving precision of the wildlife biologist tracking elk populations, the loving compassion of the veterinary laboratory technician, and the loving violence of the dog fighter. And then there is the love expressed by animal advocate Jessica Dolce in light of the reality of overcrowded shelters and underfunded sanctuaries: “putting them to sleep, in your arms, can be the greatest act of love you can give to your pet.” These are undoubtedly funny kinds of love.
Kind is important here, for kind indexes the different kinds of love and the frequently mixed affects –care, compassion, violence –involved in these relationships. However, kind also indicates varying kinds of ethics, for the researcher who carefully, even lovingly follows protocols for the humane treatment of animals in a lab arguably engages with different ethics than those undertaken by the animal shelter worker who carefully, even lovingly administers a temperament test to determine if an animal should be euthanized. And kind is also crucial to understanding the roles of category differences at play in these loves, for while the species divide of human/non-human looms large, divisions of breed, sex, gender, and race also deeply shape these loves.
This conference seeks to explore these funny loves and the kinds of ethics and affects, as well as categorical kinds, in which they are caught up.
Contributions emphasizing feminist, critical race, indigenous, queer, and transgender studies are particularly welcome, as are contributions with connections to science and technology studies. Contributions from non-academic writers and thinkers are also very welcome. Confirmed conference participants include Professors Donna Haraway, Colin Dayan, Carla Freccero, Mel Chen, Eduardo Kohn, Irene Gustafson, and Eva Hayward.