Description
Book Synopsis The relationship between humans and animals has always been strong, symbiotic and complicated. Animals, real and fictional, have been a mainstay in the arts and entertainment, figuring prominently in literature, film, television, social media, and live performances. Increasingly, though, people are anthropomorphizing animals, assigning them humanoid roles, tasks and identities. At the same time, humans, such as members of the furry culture or college mascots, find pleasure in adopting animal identities and characteristics. This book is the first of its kind to explore these growing phenomena across media. The contributors to this collection represent various disciplines, to include the arts, humanities, social sciences, and healthcare. Their essays demonstrate the various ways that human and animal lives are intertwined and constantly evolving.
Trade ReviewAnimals and Ourselves addresses a host of fascinating questions associated with the blurring of the distinction between human and other species. How have TV nature documentaries changed our views of animals? What is fueling the rapid increase in cosmetic surgeries for dogs? Should nonhuman animals be considered persons or property under the law? Can 'furries' find happiness through on-line dating services? Do robotic pets make good therapists? This collection of essays offers an eclectic and intellectually satisfying tour of the myriad roles of animals in modern psychological life and in popular culture."—Hal Herzog, author of
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About AnimalsTable of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction (Kathy Merlock Jackson, Lisa Lyon Payne
- and Kathy Shepherd Stolley) 1
- Part I. Representations: Images of Animals in Media
- Animal/Human Relations in Two Prairie Tales by L. Frank Baum (Mark I. West)
- Cultivating Conservation: Childhood and Animalhood in the Fiction
- of Ernest Thompson Seton (Martin Woodside)
- Mister Ed, 1960s Television and the Horse Who Was Not Just a Horse (Kathy Merlock Jackson)
- Blurred Laughter: How Disney and Pixar Animated Films Teach Children to Laugh Like Animals (Terry Lindvall)
- Surprisingly Human: Producing Nonhuman Selves for Human
- Entertainment (Candace Korasick)
- Fargo: Morality in the "Animal" Kingdom (Lynnette Porter)
- Beautiful Cockroaches and Featherless Birds: Anthropomorphism
- in Books for Latinx Children (Stacy Hoult-Saros)
- Friend or Food? The Limits of Anthropomorphism at Disney (Kristi Maxwell)
- Part II. Relationships: Interactions Between Humans and Animals
- From Trauma to Trust: The Convoluted Relationship Between Jews
- and Dogs Hadas Marcus and Tammy Bar-Joseph
- No Room in the Boat? Pets vs. People in Disaster Relief Efforts
- (Amy J. Lantinga)
- Mirrored Caregiving: Chronic Illness in the Human/Animal
- Household (Terri Kovach)
- I Told the Dog First: The Delicate Relationship Between Marginalized
- Youth and Animals (Jeffrey Jin and Katharine Wenocur)
- Japanese People Adore Their Animals (Jill S. Grigsby)
- The "Soul" of the Circus: What Animals Under the Big Top Continue
- to Teach Their Audiences (Mort Gamble)
- Part Iii. Reflections: Cultural Analysis
- of Human/Animal Blurring From Tusk to Tail: Understanding the Animal Attraction to College Mascots (Lisa Lyon Payne)
- Body Boundaries: Animal Body Adornment, Lifestyle Holism
- and Cosmetic Surgeries (Kathy Shepherd Stolley)
- Farewell, Flipper: Sending Dolphins Back to the Sea (Jay Alabaster)
- Horses in Hats, Frogs in Frocks (Elizabeth A. Larsen)
- Animals and the Law: Persons or Property? (George S. Jackson)
- The Cross-Cultural Animal: Human-Animal Interactions
- in American Study Abroad Marketing (Jennifer R. Auerbach and Jonathan Z. Friedman)
- Presenting One's Self as a Furry: What Does This Mean? (Jackie Eller, Jacob Lax and Mary De La Torre)
- The Story of PARO, a Robotic Harp Seal Pup (Yoko Sakuma Crume)
- Selective Bibliography
- Camille McCutcheon
- About the Contributors
- Index
