Updated
This interesting conference on Animals, Ecology & Society is coming up Friday, August 9th at NYU and is sponsored by the section on Animals and Society of the American Sociological Association and hosted by the Environmental Studies Department of New York University.
I was curious as to the hoped-for outcome from the conference. Dr. Corey L. Wrenn, chair-elect of the Animals and Society section of the American Sociological Association, provided this comment: “We’re hoping to bring together scholars from across the field to address the crisis in human/nonhuman relations in the context of climate change. In the rhetoric surrounding environmental disaster, the interests of nonhuman animals are not often included, especially less popular species. Our conference aims to challenge that.”
As for NYU’s interest in animal issues, Casey Riordan, one of the conference organizers, noted, “Last year the Environmental Studies Department established one of the nation’s first Animal Studies master’s degree programs – you can learn more about it at http://as.nyu.edu/animalstudies/about.html.”
At the link, the program outlines one of its mission statements as: “To start new conversations about animals, how we understand and represent their diversity and complexity, and how to best protect them and raise awareness about their importance.”
Animals, Ecology & Society Mini-conference Friday, August 9th (Free)
Organizing committee: Erin Kidder, Casey Riordan, Corey Wrenn, and Richard York
August 9, 2019, 1:00-5:00 p.m.; check-in beginning at 12:30
Location: NYU Silver Center, Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
Schedule for Conference August 9th:
Check-in:
12:30-1:00 – Check-in and mingle
Welcome:
1:00-1:10 Welcoming remarks by Richard York, A&S Chair, and Colin Jerolmack, Chair of NYU Environmental Studies
Panel 1
1:10-1:50 p.m. Leslie Irvine – “Animals and Social Problems: Lessons for a More-than-Human World”
1:50-2:30 p.m. Colter Ellis and Kelly E. Knight – “Lizard Brains: The Somatic Experience of Trauma and the Animal Within”
2:30-2:50 p.m. Discussant: Colin Jerolmack
Break
2:50-3:10 p.m. – Break with coffee and light snacks
Panel 2
3:10-3:50 p.m. Linda Kalof – “Fostering Empathy with Animals and Nature through Visual Imagery”
3:50-4:30 p.m. Stefano Longo – “Animals, Capitalist Development, and Ecology”
4:30-4:50 p.m. Discussant: Erin Kidder
Closing remarks
4:50-5:00 p.m. Closing remarks by Corey Wrenn, A&S Chair-elect
Informal reception
5:15-7:00 p.m. Amity Hall, 80 West 3rd Street
You can register for the conference at this link here.