22 Mar International Multispecies Research Symposium: Shifting Paradigms in Human-Animal Relations
International Multispecies Research Symposium: Shifting Paradigms in Human-Animal Relations (May 24-26, 2022 – Online). Abstracts (350 words) due April 5; Full submissions due May 10. You do not have to make a submission to attend the symposium.
Aims:
- Scholarly exploration and deeper understanding of intuitive interspecies communication (IIC) as practiced by animal communicators (an emerging multispecies method);
- Catalyze novel partnerships and grow an international network of IIC research;
- Develop new research questions, directions, teams, discussion groups across diverse areas of inquiry and disciplines.
Background:
The precarity of this time demands a radical shift in human activity and reorientation toward the bio-systems that sustain us. Innovative methods to directly engage animal voice and agency are called for, being developed, and remembered (Barrett et al., 2021a; Buller, 2015; Erickson et al, 2016; McInnis et al., 2019; Wijngaarden, accepted). This international, online symposium focuses on the practice of intuitive interspecies communication (IIC) as practiced by professional animal communicators. Using a wide range of intuitive methods, animal communication practitioners (ACs) experience two-way communicative exchanges with non-human animals – both domestic and wild. This includes “an exchange of visceral feelings, emotions, mental impressions and thoughts, embodied sensations of touch, smell, taste, sound, as well as visuals in the mind’s eye. While these exchanges can occur when in direct physical proximity to the animal, they can also occur over great distances and without the need for visual, auditory, olfactory, voice or other cues that humans normally associate with direct interactive communication” (Barrett et al., 2021a, p. 151).
Background paper: Speaking with other animals through intuitive interspecies communication: Towards cognitive and interspecies justice https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788979986/9781788979986.00018.xml
For full details, see the Symposium Website: https://researchers.usask.ca/mj-barrett/mutispecies-research-symposium.php#
To recognize the deep traditions of interspecies communication among Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous professionals, Elders, knowledge keepers and community members are welcome to attend at no cost, but you must register. Please contact the conference organizers at: Multispecies.methods@usask.ca
References:
Barrett, M. J., Hinz, V., Wijngaarden, V., & Lovrod, M. (2021a). Speaking with other animals through intuitive interspecies communication: Towards cognitive and interspecies justice. In A. Hovorka, S. McCubbin, & L. VanPatter (Eds.), A research agenda for animal geographies (pp. 149–166). UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Barrett, M.J., Hoessler, C. Seel, K., Wall, C., Jackson, J. (2021b). Pathways to post-anthropocentric ways of knowing and being: Learning from professional animal communicators’ journeys beyond human exceptionalism.
Buller, H. (2015). Animal geographies II: Methods. Progress in Human Geography, 39(3), 374–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132514527401
Erickson, D. L., Ph, D., Fisher, D., Woelk, B., Buckner, W., Ed, D., & Ashley, C. (2016). A mixed methods study of telepathic interspecies communication with therapeutic riding horses and their recovering wounded veteran partners. NeuroQuantology, 14(2), 404–427. https://doi.org/10.14704/nq.2016.14.2.953
McGinnis, A., Kincaid, A., Barrett, M. J., Ham, C., & Community Elders Research Advisory Group (2019). Strengthening Animal-Human Relationships as a Doorway to Indigenous Holistic Wellness. Ecopsychology, 11(3), 162–173. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2019.0003
Wijngaarden, V. (accepted, 2022). Interviewing animals through animal communicators: Potentials of intuitive interspecies communication for multispecies methods. Society and Animals.
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