Elephant empire: zoos and colonial encounters in Eastern Europe

ABSTRACT

Whereas zoological gardens and animal collections in North America and Western Europe are well researched from historical, philosophical, and cultural perspectives, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the history and legacy of these modernizing institutions in Eastern Europe. To bridge this gap in scholarship, I investigate the traffic in exotic animals to this region with a focus on a particular species. Historically, elephants have been considered prime symbols of the power and triumph of the colonial empire, and were thus often the jewels of colonial animal collections across Europe. In this article, I explore how the colonial origin of elephants as both big game and charismatic megafauna translates into a geopolitical context without direct overseas colonies, in order to trace the material links between species, race, transnational commodity networks, and structures of identity formation. Based on archival and bibliographic research focused on the Poznań Zoo in years 1871–1945, this article offers a critical analysis of the role of elephant performance in zoos, circuses, and travelling shows in mediating and mobilizing imperial longings. From this vantage point I suggest that studying public zoos in Eastern Europe offers a unique insight into a physical presence of colonial imperialism (via traffic in exotic species) in an area without overseas colonies, through a site where modernist models of citizenship, nationhood, and Europeanness are forged at the interface between science, education, and transnational politics. Given that zoos were crucial for the development of the biological perspective in the West, I posit a reconfiguration of zoos as ‘contact zones’ and primary sites for colonial encounter within the empire from a semi-peripheral perspective.     

From manstream measuring to multispecies sustainability? A gendered reading of bee‐ing sustainable

This article draws on an ethnography of bee‐work to explore how androcentrism is enacted and disrupted in environmental organizing practices. We first situate the study in recent debates surrounding sustainability, viewing this as one organizing project that informs the recent ‘Save the Bees’ discourse and initiatives proliferating the global North. Theoretically inspired by ideas from political ecology and feminist materialism, we suggest that dominant ‘bee‐saving’ practices are enacted through masculinist conceptions of ‘manstream’ measuring. Focusing on biosecurity inspections during one significant pollination event, we draw on three motifs to explore both the enactment and disruption of sanitized, linear and falsely bounded distinctions that often re/produce practices which have outcomes counter to their intended objectives. Reflecting on three field‐based moments — Pests, Protection and Pace — we consider the possibilities for an alternative modality of multispecies sustainability that is inspired by a new materialism agenda. This not only serves to dismantle inherent binaries through paying attention to the ontological muddling of species, but also helps to consider the productive relations that may emerge when we depart from masculinist modes of sustainable thinking in organizational and institutional settings.     

Volunteers' Power and Resistance in the Struggle for Shelter Animal Survival

This article presents an analysis of how volunteers use different forms of capital to resist the practices and discourses of the organization for which they volunteer. Volunteers at a large public animal shelter do not share the shelter's institutionally held belief that shelter death is an inevitable result of homelessness among companion animals; to reduce shelter death, they craft challenges to the shelter practice of putting dogs down and work to construct shelter death as an avoidable and problematic outcome. Their repertoire of resistance includes educational, health‐based, relational, moral, reputational, and legal strategies. The findings illuminate that volunteers’ social location outside of the shelter provides them with capital to engage in resistance within the shelter.     

我国转基因动物专利保护的必要性、可行性及基本态度

世界上对于转基因动物专利的态度基本可分为积极授权、有条件的授权和不授权三种。目前我国对转基因动物品种不给予专利保护。随着我国转基因动物技术的迅速发展,基于转基因动物产业化发展的考虑,我国有必要对转基因动物授予专利。并且通过对转基因动物专利申请的实质性要件进行分析,发现转基因动物符合专利申请所需要的新颖性、创造性和实用性要求。在对转基因动物进行专利保护时需要注意是否对＂动物＂和＂动物品种＂进行区分,另外,还要把转基因动物专利保护和动物遗传资源保护有机结合起来。     

Forging the links: (de)constructing chains of behaviours

This paper will discuss an article by Becker and French (2005) in this Journal which proposed the general acceptance of correlations or the ‘links’ between child abuse, animal abuse and domestic violence. Becker and French claim this topic has ‘seen a growth of interest’ (p. 399) over the past two decades and they suggest that organizations across the UK should ‘institutionalize the “links” within policy and practice’ (p. 410). In this paper we question the appropriateness of linking different forms of violence in such a mechanistic and predictive way by drawing on and extending arguments we have made elsewhere. We consider the proposed ‘links’ in terms of assumptions, de?nitions, methods and logic, and raise concerns for a prospective practice which is based on retrospective (and ?awed) research. We aim to appeal to in?uential doubters (social workers, child care workers, animal welfare workers, vets, educators and policy‐makers) in a language of ‘reason’, and we propose that the identi?ed reluctance of professionals in the UK to adopt the rhetoric of ‘links’ can be viewed as an informed and re?ective response. Throughout, we offer a corrective commentary to the ?awed assumptions of the ‘links’ argument and seek to encourage others to remain sceptical about these claims and the suggested implications for practice. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

论中英语言的文化趋同性和差异性

语言是文化的组成部分,是文化的载体,它受着文化的制约和影响,是文化的主要表现形式和传播工具。在人类历史发展的漫长过程中,动物一直与人类保持着密切的联系并对人类的生存、发展有着深刻的影响,对中英文化中动物基本象征意义进行对比分析,就可以在英语学习中避免跨文化交际的障碍。     

关于商代中原地区野生动物诸问题的考察

殷商时期中原地区为亚热带半湿润气候,水草丰茂,有不同于现今的良好的生态环境,是各种野生动物的繁殖地和栖息地。殷墟发掘出的野生动物骨骼,大多数是今天在中原灭绝而热带或亚热带地区尚生存的生物物种。甲骨田猎卜辞中经常有猎获大量野生动物的占卜纪录,其中以鹿类动物为最多,而犀、象、虎、彘也非常多见。大量证据表明,犀、象等野生动物是土著动物,不是如有些学者说的从外地迁运而来的。到了商代晚期开始出现的生态环境的恶化,致使大量野生动物绝迹甚至它迁。     

欧亚草原动物纹样的角色转换

欧亚草原早期主人塞人、匈奴人、乌孙人、大月氏人、鲜卑人等诸多民族的动物纹样是功能性的 ,雕刻在刀、剑、牌饰、带钩、马具上的动物纹样 ,是巫师 (萨满 )作为通天工具出现的 ,它们发挥的是文化功能。而中古以后突厥、蒙古等民族的金银饰品的装饰性增强 ,出现了以实用和审美为主的非功能性器型和纹样     

动物情结与翻译问题

动物因其秉性不同 ,而在不同的民族文化中有着相同或不同的象征意义。比较汉俄两种语言中涉及动物的某些成语、谚语、俗语等语言现象 ,可以揭示出民族特性 ,对日常对外交往中语言形式的取向 ,以及了解不同民族的生活方式、风俗习惯等有帮助作用     

Companion animals in families of children with autism spectrum disorder: Lessons learned from caregivers.

Companion animals (i.e., pets) have been increasingly recognized for the roles they play in families, including those with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This cross-sectional study explored the unique functions of companion animals within families with a child with ASD. Phenomenology was used to analyze the responses of participants (N = 338) who responded to a survey offered through the Interactive Autism Network. The study initially focused on dogs; however, the analysis was forced to expand to other species due to the data provided by participants. Seven major themes emerged: bonding and benefits, learning opportunities, barriers, grief, fit (match of family characteristics with those of the companion animal), safety, and alternative animals. Successful fit between companion animals and families was often described as necessary for beneficial functions. Barriers included necessary cost and time, as well as required supervision of interactions to enhance safety of the children and animals.