4th Workshop : Wildlife, Empathy and Environmental Behaviour

The growing proximity of the increasingly mediated ‘wild’; through the reinvention of zoos as both sanctuaries for endangered animals and educational centres as well as the explosion of wildlife programmes on the television, all impact upon human attitudes to ‘nature’. How do portrayals, representations and interactions with ‘wild’ animals impact upon environmental attitudes and ecological behaviour ? These are the themes of this particular workshop which features papers by the following: Piran White: 'Contrasting attitudes towards native and invasive species'; Angela Cassidy: 'Badgers, cows and us; shifting conflicts'; Garry Marvin: 'Challenging Animals: An exploration of the practices and performances of modern hunting'; Chris Wilbert: 'Questioning ‘wild’ animal mediations in Art, Zoos, Nature Documentaries and Leisure/Tourism practices'; Christoph Schwitzer and Simon Garrett: 'Zoos, education and the public: a perspective from Bristol Zoo'; and Stephen Moss: 'Wildlife on screen'. The workshop is being held on Tuesday 15th December 2009 at the Bristol Veterinary School, Langford.

Film "Horse Boy" is on BBC 4 21.00, 24 11 09

The Horse Boy

Today, 21:00 on BBC Four

Synopsis

Filmmaker Michel Orion Scott captures a magical journey into a little-known world, in a documentary which chronicles Rupert Isaacson and Kristin Neff's personal odyssey to make sense of their child's autism, and find healing for him and themselves in the unlikeliest of places.

Animals for Peace

When I presented a paper on the domestic geographies of cats at workshop 2 of the network, I made the point that in my family our cats are often used as peace brokers in tensions between human family members. In the follow up comments someone suggested that the use of animals in conflict resolution on the domestic scale could be scaled up. This seemed an intriguing idea to me. (People are often prepared to heed the plight of animals rather than other people). I guessed that others would have already had this idea. I decided to poke about on Google and found the following website. Animals for Peace. Cheers Owain

http://www.peaceforanimals.makessense.co.uk/index.html

BBC Two's Wonderland and 7 pups

A lovely UIBEN-like example of how to do a 'follow the thing' on 7 staffie bull-terrier crosses pups.. And really understand individual human behaviour..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nts91/Wonderland_Series_2_Seven_Pups_for_Seven_People/

Seven puppies are born to a first-time mother called Uggs in a cramped front room in East London. These aren't just cute and cuddly puppies - they are Staffordshire bull terrier crosses, the dogs the tabloids sometimes call 'devil dogs'. They are both one of the most sought-after breeds in the country, and perversely the most frequently abandoned. One in three of Battersea Dogs Home's total intake is a Staffie cross.

This film follows the fate of Uggs' puppies as her owner tries to find new homes for them at 300 pounds a pup. It isn't long before boon turns to burden, however, as Uggs' owner realises the puppies are costing her more in food and care than she can ever make from the sales.

Introducing Uggs' owner and the new Staffie pup owners, this film uncovers the lives of the people from a marginalised section of society, who may mistrust other humans, but have a genuine love of the Staffordshire bull terrier.

3rd Workshop : Nurturance, Husbandry and Consumption

The third workshop was held at the Universty of Reading on Tuesday 10th November. The theme of this third session was 'Nurturance, husbandry and consumption' . The aim of the workshop was to explore what that ‘taking care of’ consists of, how ‘care’ relationships are constructed and performed, how they are intertwined and negotiated with other, often contradictory behaviours and practices (such as the culling or killing of formerly nurtured animals), and how notions of ‘care’ become translated and enacted through the food chain to impact upon individual choices at the point of product transformation, selling, acquisition and, ultimately consumption. Ultimately, we ask what are the effects of care and nurturance regarding animals on individual human behaviour. Speakers at the workshop included Rhoda Wilkie, Emma Roe, James Yates, Richard Bennett and Adrian Evans.

Welcome : 1st and 2nd Workshops

Welcome to the blog for the ESRC funded UIBEN programme project entitled 'Understanding Individual Behaviour through Human/Animal Relations'.

The first workshop was held in Reading on the 15th September 2009 entitled:

'Towards a relational taxonomy'

Which non-human animals do we humans relate to and how? Which are considered as worthy of our relational engagement through ‘empathy’, ‘nurturance’ and ‘care’? Which animals fall outside that embrace, or are deliberately excluded from it (for example, as pests and vermin) and might such divisions be relevant or valuable in exploring human ontologies, attitudes and behaviour? This first workshop seeks to identify the parameters of human/animal relations by exploring four aspects of differentiation: cultural and representational aspects, evolutionary psychological aspects, developmental psychological aspects and ideas of hospitality/more inclusive cosmo-politics.

The second workshop was held in Bristol on the 13th October, entitled:

'Care and therapeutic relations'

In what ways do human/animal relations impact on the mental and physical health of individuals? How can we begin to articulate the therapeutic relations between an animal and human in such diverse settings as pet therapy in hospitals and care homes, riding for the disabled, guide dogs for the visually impaired as well the more everyday benefits of living with companions animals? How do these relations vary between cultures? This session will draw on medical, psychological and sociological perspectives to try and open up this very important and fascinating aspect of human-animal relations and draw together future directions for research.