Journal

Animal Studies Journal, the online scholarly journal of the Australasian Animal Studies Association, provides a forum for current research in human-animal Studies. ASJ publishes international cross-disciplinary content with a particular, but not exclusive, interest in Australian, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific scholarship. The journal, which is published twice yearly, is fully refereed (double-blind peer reviewed) and open access. ISSN: 2201-3008 (Online)

Current Issue: Volume 4, Number 2 (2015)

The contributions to this edition of Animal Studies Journal all foreground aspects of ‘lived’ human-animal relationships, from a range of perspectives.

In the articles of the first section, Thom van Dooren offers an exploration of the conflicting aspects of conservation management, running alongside his account of visiting the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center in Hawai‘i. Ally McCrow Young, Tobias Linné and Annie Potts address the politics of representation in relation to depictions of brushtail possums in the New Zealand news media; and Fiona Probyn-Rapsey problematises the notions of purity informing dingoes’ supposed extinction by assimilation. Both Adrian Franklin’s paper and that of Catherine Tiplady, Deborah Walsh and Clive Phillips consider the importance of personal domestic relationships between humans and nonhuman animals – Franklin provides an auto-ethnographic case study of himself and Miffy, a cat, in relation to human loneliness and so-called companion animals, while Tiplady et al’s research considers the implications for animals who live with women who are caught in domestic violence situations. Finally, Katie Lavers emphasises the centrality of horses to historical and contemporary circus, tracing the different attitudes and cultural contexts that have influenced and determined their lives, and deaths.

These essays are followed by two creative works and two book reviews. Lianuska Gutierrez’s poem ‘Talks Through Me’, framed by an epigraph from modernist writer Djuna Barnes’ masterwork Nightwood, offers compelling engagement with a hunter’s viewpoint. Joshua Lobb’s beautifully crafted short story ‘What he heard’ creatively explores the concept of the Umwelt, providing multiple (and perhaps unexpected) species’ perspectives. Carol Freeman and Yvette Watt review Georgette Leah Burns and Mandy Paterson’s anthology Engaging with Animals, published in the ‘Animal Publics’ book series from Sydney University Press. Finally, Rick de Vos eloquently reviews the updated edition of Carol Freeman’s Paper Tiger, a book which, among other things, considers the impacts of representation on the (now extinct) thylacine (Tasmanian tiger).

The next two issues of the Animal Studies Journal are themed: Invertebrate Communities; Animal Publics. There is still time to submit for the Animal Publics edition the CFP is open until March 2016.

Editor: Dr Melissa Boyde, University of Wollongong
Associate Editors:
Dr Michael Griffiths, University of Wollongong
Assoc Prof Philip Armstrong, New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, University of Canterbury
Assoc Prof Annie Potts, New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, University of Canterbury
Dr Sally Borrell on leave 2016

Editorial Advisory Board
Assoc. Professor Phillip Armstrong, New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, University of Canterbury
Professor Steve Baker, University of Central Lancashire
Dr Georgette Leah Burns, Griffith University
Professor Una Chaudhuri, New York University
Dr Matthew Chrulew, Curtin University
Professor Deidre Coleman, University of Melbourne
Professor Barbara Creed, University of Melbourne
Elizabeth Ellis, University of Wollongong
Professor Adrian Franklin, University of Tasmania
Professor Erica Fudge, University of Strathclyde
Professor Donna Haraway, University of California, Santa Cruz
Dr Susan Hazel, University of Adelaide
Dr Andrew Knight, University of Winchester
Professor Amanda Lawson, University of Wollongong
Professor Susan McHugh, University of New England
Dr Alison Moore, University of Wollongong
Dr Cecilia Novero, University of Otago
Assoc. Professor Annie Potts, New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, University of Canterbury
Assoc.Professor Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, University of Sydney
Dr Denise Russell, University of Wollongong
Professor John Simons, Macquarie University
Professor Peta Tait, La Trobe University
Professor Helen Tiffin, University of Wollongong
Dr Tom Tyler, Oxford Brookes University
Professor Cary Wolfe, Rice University
Dr Yvette Watt, University of Tasmania
Assoc. Professor Linda Williams, RMIT University
Professor Wendy Woodward, University of the Western Cape