Current Research Projects
Thinking about Horses: 'natural horsemanship' and cultural change
Dr Lynda Birke
Anthrozoology Unit, University of Chester, UK
This project focuses on the rise of 'natural horsemanship', particularly among owners of 'pleasure' horses. Advocates argue that these 'new'methods are kinder, more 'natural' and more in tune with horse communication than traditional methods. The project explores natural horsemanship as a form of cultural change, and looks at how concepts of nature and culture are (re) inscribed in these discourses. To most advocates, natural horsemanship is better, and therefore better for the welfare of the horse: so, a further question will be to consider what welfare issues might be raised by such methods of training.
ESRC Research Fellowship: Biogeography and Transgenic Life
Dr Gail Davies
Department of Geography, UCL, UK
gdavies@geog.ucl.ac.uk
This ESRC fellowship will support Dr Gail Davies in the completion of a series of research projects, which together constitute an innovative mapping of the issues which accompany the increasing role played by transgenic animals in the international development of biotechnology. The fellowship will involve comparative studies in the UK, USA and Singapore, researching the basis of international differences in the production, circulation and regulation of genetically modified (GM) animals; focusing on GM mice and zebrafish as the most widely established and rapidly increasing GM animals. Interviews, policy analysis and media reviews will trace how GM mice and zebrafish have become the standard organisms for biological research, exploring differences in the way this normalization has occurred in different contexts. In-depth qualitative research will then investigate issues challenging this normalization, including the implications of developments in animal welfare, the standardization of scientific protocols and the production of transgenic human-animal chimeras. Theoretically, the research builds on dialogues between geography, science and technology studies and bioethics. Empirically, the research will provide new insights into the international dimensions of contemporary biotechnology and the role played by transgenic animals in the spaces of the bioeconomy and in political and ethical debate.
Contesting neoDarwinism and the Implications for Scholarly and Public Understandings of Structures of Social Relating
M.J. Hird
Queens University, Canada
The purpose of this research project is to critically analyze key tenets of neoDarwinism,
especially as they pertain to topics of central concern to sociology including public
understandings of science and the 'nature' of social relations. The research will employ
a case study approach, focusing on the ground breaking work of Lynn Margulis whose
research on the origins of both species and sexual difference adjoins a growing movement
within the natural sciences calling for a paradigm shift away from neoDarwinism and
toward an exploration of alternate forms of social relating among and between species.
The research will bring together evidence from sociology (including science and
technology studies, social theory and feminist theory), evolutionary theory and
microbiology, thus offering a timely cross-disciplinary approach.
Ethics and extremism: the use of animals in research
Pru Hobson-West
Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham, UK
The use of animals in research and testing is one of the most contentious issuesin modern science. The relationship between humans and animals is also one ofthe fundamental questions in moral philosophy. Rather than assessing thearguments for or against the use of animals in research the projectinvestigates how both scientists and activists appeal to ethical arguments tomake their case. In particular, I am interested in how actors draw boundariesbetween scientific and ethical claims. Data will mainly be generated fromsemi-structured interviews and supplemented with some observation and documentary analysis.
For more information please contact Pru.Hobson-West@nottingham.ac.uk
Projects past and present
Carol Morris
School of Geography, University of Nottingham
My interest in this area focuses on the relationship between society and agricultural animals, an interest that developed out of a commissioned research project for the RSPCA on the Common Agricultural Policy and farm animal welfare (project report by Buller, Morris and Winter (2002) and associated publications are available in Connotea database). Recently I have also been writing about animal-human relations within the context of the debate about agricultural sustainability and have an interest in vegetarianism and its contribution to the development of sustainable agro-food systems. With Lewis Holloway (University of Hull) I am currently developing research into the knowledge practices associated with livestock breeding and how these are being reconfigured as a result of the ‘geneticization’ of animal agriculture.
Reconfigurations of Human/Animal Relations in Genomics and Beyond
Richard Twine
University of Lancaster, UK
This CESAGen Flagship Project, given the 'ROAR' acronym, began in
September 2004 and will run for three years. It is one of nine flagship
projects based at the Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects of
Genomics (CESAGen). CESAGen itself is part of a wider Genomics Network
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK.
In the ten years since 'Dolly' became the first mammal cloned from a
cell it has become increasingly apparent that biotechnology and genomics
have the capacity to add a new dynamic to the changing social and
ethical relationships between humans and other animals. In food and
agriculture there is the proposed technological intervention into animal
bodies to produce healthier, functional foods, faster growing animals
and perhaps more docile animals better suited to farming environments.
Knowledge of the genome may also be used to produce animals that are
more disease resistant or have the ability to express pharmaceutical
products in their milk. In medicine genomics is being used to make
animals better models for studying human disease. Animals also continue
to be thought of as a potential means by which to solve the human organ
donation deficit through xenotransplantation. Biotechnology can also
alter our practice of keeping companion animals with the ability to
alter breeds and clone lost pets. The construction of animal DNA
databases whilst chiefly employed as comparative models for human health
may also lead to improvements in animal health and welfare whilst the
storage of endangered 'wild' animal DNA will provide one response to
threats against global biodiversity.
All these interventions raise issues for our ethical treatment of other
animals. Some may arguably continue previous instrumental relations
whilst others may promote less hierarchical relations. Yet
biotechnological impacts are more complex than this and may involve
simultaneous effects that both instrumentalise and imply closer
animal-human continuities. Outside of genomics and biotechnology
examples such as fox hunting and live exports illustrate the ability of
human-animal relations to be provocative, public and political issues.
The biotechnological impact upon these relations will be further
contextualised by previous attempts to establish GM technologies. They
amplify issues of public trust in science and governmental institutions
and wider ethical and sociological questions about how and why we value
nonhuman animals.
The ROAR project involves a constellation of interconnected projects.
These focus on the application of genomics to farm animals,
GM/Transgenic animals, animal patents, animals as biopharmaceuticals,
concepts of animal suffering and public engagement on human/animal
relations.