CFP: AASA Conference 2023 – Animal Cultures (Sydney, 27-28 Nov 2023)

05 Jun CFP: AASA Conference 2023 – Animal Cultures (Sydney, 27-28 Nov 2023)

The 2023 Conference of the Australasian Animal Studies Association will be held in-person at the University of Sydney on the 27th and 28th of November 2023, as part of the Congress for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Conference theme – Animal Cultures – encompasses emerging scientific and philosophical considerations of culture in non-human animal communities, as well as culturally-informed human views of other animals.  Cultural transmission has been observed in a wide array of species (Whiten 2021), facilitating the acquisition of social and ecological knowledge and behaviours that influence biological and social wellbeing (Brakes et al. 2019).

Applying a cultural focus can be problematic, as it considers non-human animals through an anthropocentric construct. Animal Cultures will address the affordances and complexities of “culture/s” within animal studies.

In addition to the wide array of topics presented by scholars at AASA’s Conferences, we are interested exploring Animal Cultures from perspectives, including but not limited to:

•             New interpretations of non-human animal culture and knowledge

•             Indigenous knowledges of animal cultures 

•             Cross cultural and multicultural approaches to animal life

•             Global animal networks

•             Non-human animals and environmental protection

•             Political organisations 

•             Transmissions of knowledge through space, time, sound, bodies, and dance

•             Symbiotic animal cultures

•             Cross-species cultures 

•             The culture of Animal Studies

Submit paper and panel proposals via: https://usygovir.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9uhQJeS4uWbTc3A

•             Submissions open: Friday 26 May 2023

•             Submissions close: Friday 30 June 2023

•             Notification of results:  Friday 28 July 2023

All proposals for papers and panels are welcome where they are aligned with the Vision and Mission of the Association (https://animalstudies.org.au/about). 

Questions to: Dr Peter John Chen at peter.chen@sydney.edu.au