During June 2024, a group of early career scholars comprised of graduate students and postdocs joined forces as fellows at the Animal Studies Summer Institute (ASSI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, led by Drs. Jane Desmond and Kim Marra. Fellows came from a variety of fields, including Anthropology, Animal Studies, Communication, Primatology, Sociology, and more, to discuss their work and pressing issues related to Animal Studies. In this zine, we compiled a few submissions from participants to highlight the work fellows have done not only intellectually, but through reflection and in community.
IN THIS ZINE WE BRING COLLAGES MADE DURING MARIA LUX WORKSHOP AT ASSI, AND WRITINGS OF FELLOW’S EXPERIENCES OF THE SUMMER INSTITUTE.
Contributors
E D I T O R S :
J O A N N E M A R R A S T A T E
M A R I A C H I A R A F I C A R E L L I
C A M I L L A T U M I D E I
C O N T R I B U T O R S
R I T A B O U W E N S
“ B U R N O U T ”
K E L L Y G I L E S
“ M A M A B I R D I N S T I N C T ”
A G A T A K O W A L E W S K A
“ W O R K I N G N A T U R E ”
M A R L I E S B O C K S T A L
“ O N D O I N G A H . A . S . P H D ”
P H I L I P M C K I B B I N “ W H A T H A V E W E D O N E ? ”
M A R I A C H I A R A F I C A R E L L I “ A N I M A L S T U D I E S I N A I ”
Contributors
H A L L I E A B E L M A N
“ C A N I P E T Y O U R T R I N K E T ? ”
J O A N N E M A R R A S T A T E
“ I N T E R - D I S C I P L I N ( E ) - A R I T Y ”
J O H N H A W K I N S
“ M A N T R A F O R R E C O V E R I N G H U M A N S ”
Rita Bouwens “Burnout”
I made this collage in a state of frustration. The little boy who is screaming represents how I typically feel working in the animal welfare industry. A lot of my frustration comes from the industry itself and the ways it reacts to systemic problems. I oftentimes wish things were different. There is not enough time in the day to everything that we need to do. In fact, at the rate that animal welfare services are needed in the United States, there will never be enough time (or resources) to help everyone in need. We’re always doing what we can to stay afloat amidst the constant inundation, but few, it seems, stop and ask: “why is it this way? Does it have to be this way?”
Kelly Giles “Mama Bird Instinct”
I think a lot of scholars can relate to the lifestyle of a fledgling cardinal. We’ve left the nest a bit too early for flying, but just in time to start hopping and foraging with the safety of reliable meals from mom. We have too much inspiration, too much spirit, to remain in one place.
Like young cardinals, we hop before we fly. There’s so much to learn in so little time. As new scholars, we learn how to gather data, study the best references, and seek out qualifying experiences. Like the elder cardinals, our mentors are nearby. After a week together at the Animal Studies Summer Institute, we hopped until we could fly. Our goals and experiences synergized! We found the reward in feeling like fledglings from time to time. New partnerships were made as we found more ways to contribute to Animal Studies.
As a third year veterinary student, I can hardly declare myself a fledgling before starting my clinical year– where I will have the autonomy to work with clients and form treatment plans for cases with guidance from clinicians and other resources. I am less than a year away from leaving the nest– and even further from flying. Thank you for your confidence and support as I practiced “hopping.” I will cherish having you as colleagues throughout my life.
On behalf of the real fledgling cardinal, who was diligently brought to my attention that first night, thank you for your respect, love, and Mama Bird Instincts. It was so rewarding to have such a compassionate crew while rescuing the fledgling. I could not have asked for a better crowd, as you all remained distant and silent, a better box-holder than August, and a better navigator than Rita, as we brought the bird to a quieter, wilder place. As we spent each day workshopping and bonding, the fledgling was able to forage and eventually fly away. I will always remember this as one of my first cases– a fledgling taking care of a fledgling.
Agata Kowalewska “Working Nature”
Marlies Bockstal
“On doing a HAS PhD”
The PhD journey Is a lonely one Nobody is doing What you ’ re doing And that’s the point Or you wouldn’t be doing your research But this also means That no one Except you Fully understands Your research And so you constantly need To explain what you are doing And what is the point of it Not just to your friends and family And other people But other scholars Even within your field
Too
And if you ’ re doing research In Human-Animal Studies You need to do this even more Because usually You are one of the few Or often the only one In your department Doing Human-Animal Studies And this Makes the journey even more isolating But also When you want to advocate For nonhuman animals
Through your research
You deal with even more questions That make you feel pressured To have to justify What you are doing Constantly
That it becomes normalised And you don’t question it anymore Until you come into an environment Like ASSI
Where everyone just gets it And suddenly
You realise how easy it can feel To feel understood And that your research matters Without having to start a conversation With a whole explanation
How much deeper conversations become Because you don’t have to start from scratch You already have a solid base You can build from Even though We all come from different backgrounds Culturally
Geographically And disciplinary We still get And respect Each other Because we all share A care and love
For the nonhuman animals And a passion To make a difference
And help them
Through the research we are doing And this creates strong connections
Best felt through in-person interactions
Where you have the space to be vulnerable And suddenly Hard boundaries dissolve And a powerful synergy is created Between like-minded people And you think to yourself This is what it feels like To belong
To a community To be part of something So unique And so valuable And you feel energised again To continue your PhD Because
You feel empowered
By having built personal relations With so many others Who are making a difference In their own way No matter how small And through our connections Together
We are making change happen In building a kinder world For nonhuman animals And humans Alike And this is the power
Of bringing HAS people together Physically In one place
Something that wouldn’t be the same Virtually
This is why it’s so important To keep investing
In community building in real life like ASSI.
T h i s c o l l a g e r e p r e s e n t s t h e i m p a c t o f c o l o n i s a t i o n o n t h e m o r et h a nh u m a n w o r l d .
ave we done?”
Mariachiara Ficarelli
“Animal Studies in AI”
Inspired by all the different noncharismatic and charismatic micro and macro fauna that workshop participants learn from and the ASSI collage exercise, I tried to prompt engineer some collages using Midjourney. While the prompt I wrote remained the same, when entered twice into Midjourney, the collage images generated were different and gave centrality to different animals (although dogs in both cases remain a clear favorite!). Despite the endless apparent possibilities of AI image generation, I quickly found that collaging with paper allowed me to better express my vision (although perhaps I just need to get better at writing prompts to feed back into Midjourney).
Hallie Abel “can I
lman trinket?”
Joanne Marras Tate
“Inter-disciplin(e)-arity”
Being at ASSI was a life-changing event. I am an interdisciplinary scholar and thinker, but I often face criticism and disciplining regarding “sticking to the discipline.”
At ASSI 2024, all the barriers were lowered, and we engaged in some of the best conversations about human animal studies, human and animal coexistence, human and animal conflict and simply being a humanimal.
My reflection for this zine is about the opportunity to be amongst scholars from a variety of fields, all willing to participate in deep and meaningful conversations regarding each other's work and the state of the world.
To start, I want to talk about what it means for me to be an interdisciplinary scholar: boldness. Boldness to be disciplined and still stick to what you think could be beneficial for your epistemology and for changing paradigms. Boldness to engage in conversations where you will be shut down because you are not considered a purist expert in that field. Boldness when it comes to really caring about a variety of topics and not being afraid to say so, and to write so, and to publish so.
The start at ASSI should be the start for every interdisciplinarity conversation: Generous Criticism.
Dr. Jane Desmond presented the group with this new idea, coming from feminist scholarship, in which we all understand that we may not speak the same language when it comes to reading different academic works or knowing specific theories being applied in each other's work. Still, we all know that each cares about human and nonhuman animals and should present our critiques in caring and generous ways that will allow generative thinking and growth. We did this together, and it felt so good.
Instead of disciplining our colleagues about the boundaries of disciplines, we grew together. We were encouraged never to start a conversation with: “In my field...” or “I don’t know this scholarship because it is not a part of my academic discipline, but...”; yet we were encouraged to start from the heart, making suggestions and valuable arguments about why something should change or not. We were encouraged to be mindful of our words so that they would be heard.
To my generous and bold organizers, facilitators, speakers and academic colleagues and friends: Thank you! ASSI 2024 helped me see that I am not an oddity, that in Human Animal Studies we are invested in crossing boundaries and not being disciplined to only think one dimensionally. And that we can all be generous with our critiques and the work we put out in the world.
John Hawkins “Mantra for Recovering Humans”
But now I want, more than anything, to become smaller and smaller until I am only a piece of fruit the size of a racquetball; the mailman throws me behind a woodshed after lunch.
Ten years later, a blue plant grows back there, and it cures one obscure disease.
A
dog ran past:
I was nine years old. One day he mig come back for me.
