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.
The Biting Machine Project
Paul Granjon
Artist and Performer, UK
The project is loosely based on Joseph Beuys’ performance I Like America and America Likes Me, 1974.
The artist shared a gallery space in New York for three days with a wild coyote, period over which he and the
coyote developed a form of inter-species relationship. I have undertaken to produce a durational performance with
an autonomous mobile robot that will take the
role occupied by the coyote in Beuys’ piece.
The co-evolution of humans and machines has been the underlying subject of my artwork for several years.
I am interested in how humans create at an
increasingly rapid rate tools and prosthesis of exponential complexity, and
how these tools in turn affect the human experience. I make machines for
performances and exhibitions that comment in an often humorous fashion on
the relation of humans and machines, aiming to bring the audience to
question human dependence on ultra-complex technologies and suggest a more empowered attitude towards these technologies.
I have built several installations and autonomous robots that refer to the
animal world. The next animal-robot I am working on is inspired by Beuys’ coyote. Of a similar size and
presenting a similar danger to human beings as a mid-sized canine mammal, the robot will be able to adapt to situations and
environments, learn from experience and develop a memory. The specific outcomes of the co-habitation will be shaping
the personality of the machine in a durable manner. Two or more machines will be built and develop their own personalities
through different experiences in different contexts.
The relation developed between the human and the Biting Machine over a
period of co-presence is likely to provide a fertile ground for reflecting
and discussing issues related to the future of humans and machines. The
machine will also provide an insight in and a development module for the
development of robotic animals and of agents for human/machine performance. For more information see www.zprod.org
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
Robotic and information technologies in livestock agriculture: new relationships between humans, cows and machines
Lewis Holloway
University of Hull, UK
The project is led by Lewis Holloway in the Department of Geography, University of Hull, and
the co-investigator is Chris Bear, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University.
The project will examine the co-constitutive relationships between technologies, dairy cows and humans
in the development and use of robotic milking and information technologies in UK dairy farming. The
research will involve in-depth interviewing with farmers, farm workers and representatives of the technology
manufacturers, and observational work with cows, machines and people on farms.
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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.