The changing character of bonds with companion animals in the postindustrial world
Justyna Włodarczyk
O prednáške
It is clear that humans’ relationships with companion animals in the Western world have undergone significant changes in the past decades. Increasingly more people consider their dogs and cats to be “members of the family,” exhibiting great concern related to their welfare and investing money in commodities produced with companion animals in mind. Animal historians have noted that this increased concern for certain animals is linked with the disappearance of many species of animals from the everyday lives of humans. In Central and Eastern Europe, these qualitative changes have coincided with the shift towards a capitalist economy. Even though correlation is not equal to causation, it is worthwhile to reflect on the specificity of the changes in this part of the world in relation to the emergence of consumer culture. Taking a materialist approach, I trace the paths through which companion animals in Central Europe have become biocommodities, and I analyze this shift focusing on both the benefits and drawbacks that such changes have for the animals themselves.
O prednášajúcej
prof. ucz. dr hab. Justyna Włodarczyk je riaditeľkou Instytutu anglistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawski. Vo svojom výskume sa orientuje na animal studies a kultúrne a literárne konštrukcie animality, medzidruhové vzťahy v populárnej americkej literatúre, vzťahy medzi rasou, druhom a gender, či kultúrne geografie severnej Ameriky. Aktuálne vedie grantový projekt skúmajúci vyobrazenia medzidruhovej harmónie v anglosaskej literatúre a kultúre.