Call for Papers: Taking Animals Apart: Exploring Interspecies Enmeshment in a Biotechnological Era, May 31-June 2, 2012

Call for Papers: Taking Animals Apart: Exploring Interspecies Enmeshment in a Biotechnological Era

Sponsored by the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, University of Wisconsin--Madison

May 31-June 2, 2012

Madison, WI

Deadline for proposals: December 15, 2011

In our globalized, highly-industrialized society, human and nonhuman animals are enmeshed in surprising and often troubling ways. “Pharm” goats are living factories for the production of pharmaceuticals; honeybees are explosive-detectors in the “War on Terror;” and household pets – clothed and escorted in strollers – have become humanized companions. What do these sorts of enmeshments mean for us and our “human condition” as well as for our non-human animal counterparts? What do they mean for relationships among species?

The Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center and Program in Science and Technology Studies (STS) at the University of Wisconsin--Madison is sponsoring a three-day conference to bring together advanced graduate students in animal studies, science and technology studies, and allied disciplines (English, History, Anthropology, and Fine Arts among others) to discuss the relationships between animal studies and STS. We welcome papers or projects that explore the overlap of humans and other organisms as well as their mutual interaction with technology. Each participant will present a pre-circulated paper, article, creative composition, or dissertation chapter for constructive feedback in a roundtable discussion with peers and with scholars from the University of Wisconsin.

Our keynote speaker will be Susan Squier -- Brill Professor of Women's Studies and English at The Pennsylvania State University; acting director of its Science, Medicine, Technology in Culture program; and author of _Poultry Science, Chicken Culture: A Partial Alphabet_.

Mornings will include facilitated discussions on animal studies and STS as well as sessions on participants’ written work. In the afternoons, participants will attend field trips to sites of human-animal enmeshment in and around Madison. As part of the conference, artwork on the conference theme will be on display in a juried exhibition and honored at the keynote reception. A free public film screening of a movie on the theme of human-animal relations will conclude the conference weekend.

Modest travel stipends may be available from the Holtz Center at the University of Wisconsin to offset the costs of lodging, meals, and travel. The option to stay with local students will be available, should participants wish to do so. Please send a paper proposal of 250 words and a curriculum vitae to Peter Boger at boger@wisc.edu or Jen Martin at jamartin4@wisc.edu by December 15, 2011. Accepted papers will be due April 30, 2012. Visual artists and creative writers of fiction, nonfiction or poetry should contact Heather Swan for more information at hsrosenthal@wisc.edu.

Holtz Center for Science & Technology Studies

6317 Sewell Social Science Bldg

1180 Observatory Drive

Madison, WI 53706

http://www.sts.wisc.edu