S7E3: Species Story with Mariam Motamedi Fraser
In this episode Mariam Motamedi-Fraser joins us in the show to discuss ‘species story’ a concept she developed in her book Dog Politics. We discuss how the human-dog bond has been established and maintained through modern day practices and scientific discourses which have implications for how dogs can live.
Mariam Motamedi Fraser
Mariam Motamedi Fraser is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the interdisciplinary research group UCL Anthropocene, in the Department of Geography. Her research is located in the field of animal studies. She is particularly interested in the implications, for animals, of the concepts and theories that are deployed to ‘explain’ them in both science and non-science research. Mariam is the author of three monographs and two co-edited collections, and has published in a wide range of journals. Her most recent book, Dog Politics: Species Stories and the Animal Sciences (Manchester University Press, 2024), is a critical analysis of the idea that relationality-with-humans somehow constitutes dogs’ evolutionary destiny. The book is partly informed by her experience of volunteering at The Dog Hub, a dog training and behavioural centre in London. She is strongly committed to teaching animal studies, and to the transformative experience that learning about animals in a structured setting offers students. Her contact email address is m.motamedifraser@ucl.ac.uk.
Featured:
Dog Politics by Mariam Motamedi Fraser
The War Against Animals by Dinesh Wadiwel
Pets by Erica Fudge
Animal Biographies by Éric Baratay
Wild Justice by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce
Do Fish Resist? by Dinesh Wadiwel
S3E3: Invisibilized Animals with Paula Arcari on The Animal Turn
Mother with Yamini Narayanan on The Animal Turn
ANIMAL HIGHLIGHT:
Rashmi Singh Rana tells us about how guard dogs and shepherds work in the trans-Himalayas. She reflects of the vigilance, movement, and autonomy of the dogs in these alpine shepherd camps. These guard dogs have historically and continue to be important within these pastoral landscapes.
Guardian Dogs
“I argue that conflict is the starting point for thinking about relationality: we are in relation with animals, but this is a relation essentially of hostility. … [T]his conflict need not be thought of as a dead end, but can comprise a potential beginning for different (and hopefully less violent) relationalities. […] Fish create worlds we cannot even understand; they defy our imagination. Our primary relationship with fish, at least so far, has been violent and parasitic. We have quite literally fed off their creativity for our own benefit. Recognising fish resistance might give us different ways to think about how we might relate to fish beyond simply finding new ways to counter their resistance to us. What would our world look like if we worked with and supported the creativity of fish, rather than simply working against it?” (Dinesh Wadiwel, do Fish Resist, 2016, 212,222).
Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health (ROH) Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Rashmi Singh Rana for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for his audio editing. This episode was produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder.
