Call for Papers
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Chicago, USA, 7th-11th March 2006
Hudographies: co(a)gent spaces of companion species
Debates about the nonhuman in (human) geography have been enlivened by considerations of animal geographies (eg. Philo and Wilbert, 2000; Wolch and Emel, 1998; Whatmore, 2002; Harrison, Pile and Thrift, 2004). However, we have yet to develop a sustained set of geographies of human-animal relations in their specificity. The proposed sessions aim to advance the study of animal-human geographies through a focus on two species and their complex ways-of-relating: humans and dogs. Inspired by Haraway's (2003) manifesto, and by Michael's (2000) discussion of the hudogledog (human + doglead + dog), we want to use these sessions to explore what the former calls 'the inescapable, contradictory story of relationships' between dogs and their humans; relationships which are co-constitutive, 'in which none of the partners pre-exist the relating, and the relating is never done once and for all'. What are the geographies - the multiple locals and globals, to use Haraway's term - through which dog-human geographies are co-constituted? How do, to echo Haraway again, 'dogs and people figure a universe'? The relational domestication that has forged these 'hudographies' asks us to rethink ideas about nature and culture, subject and object, rights and responsibilities: as Michael says, 'the complex interactions that make up the human-dog relation span the material and semiotic; dogs and humans signify and they touch, they 'talk' and they pull'. Whether considering globalized cartographies of dog breeds or the mundane geographies of walking the dog, the papers in this session will critically interrogate the spaces and places of dog-human co-evolution and cohabitation. In doing so they will also critically reflect on the creation and reproduction of naturecultures or hybrid geographies (Whatmore, 2002) and the need to develop a trans-species justice within which people and animals can survive as respected co-residents of the planet (Lynn, 2004).
Possible topics which papers may cover include:
* Dogs and (human) identity - dogs and constructions of nationalisms, gender, sexuality, race, class
* Dogs and human work - hunting, war, security, policing, rescue, therapeutic/companion dogs - dogs and health, space race, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals
* Domesticity and ferality, 'rescuing' dogs, dog 'homelessness', breed specification/purity
* Sporting hudographies - hunting, racing, breeding, showing, agility, dog walking, dog fighting
* Cultures of dog ownership/co-existance and dog-related consumption - dog food/dogs as food, 'dog accessories' - the cultural economies of dog ownership, dog cybercultures
* Legal hudographies and regulation - borders, quarantine, 'Pet Passports' leashing laws, fouling, 'dangerous dogs', legal dographies, animal 'rights'
* Media hudographies
Please send a title, abstract of up to 250 words and your contact details to both of the session organisers Dr David Bell, Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK [log in to unmask] and Dr Craig Young, Geography, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK [log in to unmask]
Deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15th September, 2005. We will contact you after that date with details of the sessions and further action.
Please see the instructions re abstract format for AAG at:
http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/Chicago2006/abstract.cfm
On the conference itself see: http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/Chicago2006/
Dr Craig Young
Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
Manchester Metropolitan University
Environmental and Geographical Sciences
John Dalton Building
Chester St.
Manchester M1 5GD
0161-247-6198/1601
Fax 0161-247-6318
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