The Unfinished Business of Anna Kingsford – Towards an Enchanted Animal Ethic

This article takes seriously the claim made by 19th century antivivisectionist Anna Kingsford that experiments on animals constitute a type of malevolent sorcery, more specifically a demonic blood sacrifice. In so doing, the paper follows the work of Pignarre and Stengers in their explication of sorcery and how to “get a hold” of its operations despite its stupefying powers. To that end, I will investigate the pragmatic potential of understanding experiments on animals in this way, and more broadly, following the work of posthuman and material feminists, as a type of onto-theological phenomenon of spacetimemattering (in Karen Barad’s terms). This understanding will pay particular attention to the intra-active exclusions that haunt the laboratory space and, following a neo-Spinozist feminist approach, I will explicate the ways in which the human-animal power relations within the laboratory inhibit the creation of joyful multispecies “common notions.” In order to respond to the ghostly presences which haunt the laboratory space, and to affirm joyful, multispecies relations for “as well as possible worlds” (Puig de la Bellacasa), I will finally argue for an affirmative multispecies politics of what Rosi Bradiotti calls “zoe-centered egalitarianism” through a posthuman politics of “grace,” or “the leaving be of nonhumans” (MacCormack) which I frame as an enactment of an enchanted animal ethic.

Happy Hens or Healthy Eggs – A Summative Content Analysis Of How Hens Are Represented In Supermarket Egg Boxes Narratives

How a species is represented by marketers of animal-based products both reflects and shapes how consumers think about that animal. By examining the explicit statements, and implicit messages encoded in the imagery on supermarket egg boxes, this paper explores how hens are represented by whole egg retailers. Samples were collected from supermarket chain websites in the US, the UK, and Germany during March 2017. A summative content analysis reveals two prominent narratives purveyed through eggbox imagery (textual and visual), namely those pertaining to hen welfare and human health. The latter disenfranchises hens from their products by focusing on the nutritional value of eggs, whereas the former reflects a public concern for the welfare of egg-laying hens. Although claims of improvements in welfare practices are undoubtedly exploited as marketing tools, they nevertheless serve to raise awareness and drive competitors to adopt similar practices. Welfare claims are a direct response to public concerns about the plight of hens, and may positively influence industry welfare standards. However, idyllic depictions displayed on eggboxes also lull consumers into the belief that those eggs are an ethically sound food choice, regardless of the actual standard of living experienced by the hens.

Marcello the Dog and More-Than-Human Family in Elina Brotherus's Self-Portraits from the Series Carpe Fucking Diem

This article examines the possibilities of visual culture to open new perspectives on interspecies relations by analyzing self-portraits from visual artist Elina Brotherus’s photography series Carpe Fucking Diem (2011–2015). Brotherus has suggested that this series talks “about a failure to have a family with kids and give normality the finger”. The self-portraits can be seen to address this “failure” to have a normative nuclear family, while simultaneously questioning the desirability of the norm itself through Brotherus’s relationship with her pet dog, dachshund Marcello. The article explores the more-than-human notions of kinship and family in Carpe Fucking Diem, drawing on Donna Haraway’s concept of companion species, as well as discussions on new materialism and posthumanism. The concept of companion species deconstructs human exceptionalism and the boundaries between human and animal, and indicates that the physical and affective co-becomings between humans and the non-human significant others co-evolve with each other in complex and asymmetrical ways. In affective and embodied readings of three self-portraits and one video work from the Carpe Fucking Diem series, I examine how Elina Brotherus’s self-portraits call into question the normative notions of family as human-centered and heteronormative.

The Animal in Pope’s Essay on Man

Why are there so many animals referenced in Alexander Pope’s poem Essay on Man? Traditionally, animals were separated from man throughout history. Namely, the animal was denied logos and access to the polis. However, this article claims that neither of these traditions hold true throughout Pope’s work. Rather, man is placed on a level on par with the animal in order to “vindicate the ways of God to man,” Pope’s explicit purpose of the poem. The article concludes that the agnostic figure of the animal, oddly, becomes the “guarantor” of God’s ways in the eyes of man through its comparison with man.

Farliga vargar och bedrägliga maskhål – Produktion av risk i mediematerial om varg och barn

I artikeln analyseras en diskussion om vargen och dess existensberättigande som pågick i Österbottens Tidning under år 2018 i samband med att vargar rörde sig i trakten. Utgående från Paul Slovic analyseras hur tankegångar om risk byggs upp i materialet. Syftet för artikeln är att undersöka hur varg som risk produceras och hanteras i ett tidningsmaterial, med ett särskilt fokus på de roller som barnen tilldelas. Jag intresserar mig i synnerhet för tiden, och för vad som händer med den i dessa processer. En sammansmältning av Slovics tankar om risk och Heta Lähdesmäkis och Outi Ratamäkis analys av den farliga vargen som en diskursiv resurs i det kulturella minnet i Finland ger ett underlag för en analys av ett material som i sin helhet handlar om en konstruktion av risk för vargangrepp på barn. Jag föreslår termen ”maskhål” som ett alternativ till det som Lähdesmäki och Ratamäki kallar för tidshopp, för att visa på den cirkulära rörelsen i den nutida ständiga återkomsten till händelser som man själv inte upplevt – dödliga vargangrepp på barn i äldre tid. Maskhålet ger tillgång till vargangreppen oberoende av tid och plats, och jag ser de känslor som berättelserna genererar som den kraft som upprätthåller existensen av maskhålet. I processen synliggörs även vad jag kallar för barnets inneboende moraliska imperativ.

Eläinhenget – Keskustelu eläinten kuolemattomista sieluista spiritualistisessa Light-lehdessä Britanniassa 1887

Artikkeli tarkastelee brittiläisen, spiritualistisen Light-lehden keskustelua eläinten hengistä ja sieluista vuonna 1887. Artikkeli osoittaa, miten spiritualistien kokemusperäinen tieto siitä, että tuonpuoleisessa oli ihmishenkien lisäksi myös eläinten henkiä, vahvisti keskustelua eläinten roolista ihmisten maailmassa. Keskusteluun liittyi nopeasti myös eläinsuojelullinen ja antivivisektionistinen vire.

The life of an XPA-mouse. A posthumanist approach to becoming with humans in laboratory and law

This article is about mice. More specifically about several generations of transgenic mice, XPA-mice, that were born, lived and died in a Dutch laboratory where they were exposed to carcinogens to test if they were more sensitive to these substances than ‘regular’ mice. Taking a posthumanist approach, I analyze the daily lives of these mice as a multispecies choreography. This choreography involves mice, humans and technologies such as cages, performing together to produce ‘the XPA-mouse’ as laboratory mouse. The focus is on daily doings and bodily entanglement, rather than linguistics, making it more inclusive of human bodies, nonhuman animals and materials. However, for the different phrases of this choreography, I do not only discuss what is included but also which moves have been foreclosed, which worlds and accompanying mouse response-abilities have been excluded? This focus on exclusion will show how interspecies power relations both within the lab and within social and legal discourse have greatly constraint the meaning of agency for these particular mice.

Koripallotähti vai tuholainen? Rottien tulkitseminen kulttuurisissa konteksteissa

Semiotiikan näkökulmasta eläinkäsityksemme rakentuvat monenlaisissa lajinsisäisissä ja lajienvälisissä käännösprosesseissa. Ihminen kääntää kielenulkoista eläimyyttään kielellisiksi merkeiksi puhuessaan hormonaalisesta tilastaan tai hammassärystään, sykkeestään tai väsymyksestään, mutta yhtä lailla ihmiskielelle käännetään toislajisten eläinten tuottamia merkkejä. Lajienvälisiä suhteitamme määrittääkin ratkaisevasti se, mitä toislajisia merkkejä milloinkin käännämme ja miten. Lajienvälisessä käännöstoiminnassa ihmislajin valtakausi tuntuu siinä, kuinka ympäristömme tulkitsijoina keskitymme ihmisten tuottamiin merkkeihin. Silloin kun toislajisten merkkejä vaivaudutaan kääntämään, tulkintaa ohjaavat ihmisten tilannekohtaiset tarkoitusperät. Tätä kuvastaa se, kuinka yhteismitattomin tavoin rottia tulkitaan eri yhteyksissä – tiedekeskuksen koripallomestareista viemärin lainsuojattomiin.

From pest to pet. Liminality, domestication and animal agency in the killing of rats and cats

The ways in which the end of life of an animal is understood and undertaken depend on the category of the animal and its position in relation to humans. In this paper, we explore how transformations in human–animal relationality, including practices and cultural conceptions about animals become apparent in the norms and practices regarding the killing of animals. We focus here on rats and cats, species whose position in society has always been liminal, especially between the category of pet and that of pest but also between wild and domesticated. Rats and cats have co-existed with each other and with humans since a very long time and the three species have co-evolved in a constant dance of mutual interests and conflicts. The shared history of this multispecies network reflects in many ways how humans have related to animals in different historical and spatial contexts and how these relations have transformed. By discussing the entanglement of rats, cats and humans in the close connection between caring and killing we wish to highlight the ways in which human–animal relations are manifested in the North of Europe during the 20th century. The specific context of the study is Sweden and Finland, countries that share similar history and cultural characteristics. In our analysis we draw from various data collected in both countries, including written narratives from an nationwide writing collection and historic documents such as the journals of animal welfare societies and documents concerning the extermination of rats.