Breaking and Shaping Beastly Bodies

Breaking and Shaping Beastly Bodies

Author: Aleksander Pluskowski

Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13:

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An important human trait is our inclination to develop complex relationships with numerous other species. In the great majority of cases however, these mutualistic relationships involve a pair of species, whose co-evolution has been achieved through behavioural adaptation driving positive selection pressures. Humans go a step further, opportunistically and, it sometimes seems, almost arbitrarily elaborating relationships with many other species, whether through domestication, pet-keeping, taming for menageries, deifying, pest-control, conserving iconic species, or recruiting as mascots. When we consider medieval attitudes to animals we are tackling a fundamentally human, and distinctly idiosyncratic, behavioural trait. The sixteen papers presented here investigate animals from zoological, anthropological, artistic and economic perspectives, within the context of the medieval world.


Book Synopsis Breaking and Shaping Beastly Bodies by : Aleksander Pluskowski

Download or read book Breaking and Shaping Beastly Bodies written by Aleksander Pluskowski and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2007 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important human trait is our inclination to develop complex relationships with numerous other species. In the great majority of cases however, these mutualistic relationships involve a pair of species, whose co-evolution has been achieved through behavioural adaptation driving positive selection pressures. Humans go a step further, opportunistically and, it sometimes seems, almost arbitrarily elaborating relationships with many other species, whether through domestication, pet-keeping, taming for menageries, deifying, pest-control, conserving iconic species, or recruiting as mascots. When we consider medieval attitudes to animals we are tackling a fundamentally human, and distinctly idiosyncratic, behavioural trait. The sixteen papers presented here investigate animals from zoological, anthropological, artistic and economic perspectives, within the context of the medieval world.

Beastly Questions

Beastly Questions

Author: Naomi Sykes

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-08-28

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 1472506243

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Zooarchaeology, or the study of ancient animals, is a frequently side-lined subject in archaeology. This is bizarre given that the archaeological record is composed largely of debris from human–animal relationships (be they in the form of animal bones, individual artifacts or entire landscapes) and that many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and geography, recognise human–animal interactions as a key source of information for understanding cultural ideology. By integrating knowledge from archaeological remains with evidence from texts, iconography, social anthropology and cultural geography, Beastly Questions: Animal Answers to Archaeological Issues seeks to encourage archaeological students, researchers and those working in the commercial sector to offer more engaging interpretations of the evidence at their disposal. Going beyond the simple confines of 'what people ate', this accessible but in-depth study covers a variety of high-profile topics in European archaeology and provides novel interpretations of mainstream archaeological questions. This includes cultural responses to wild animals, the domestication of animals and its implications on human daily practice, experience and ideology, the transportation of species and the value of incorporating animals into landscape research, the importance of the study of foodways for understanding past societies and how animal studies can help us to comprehend issues of human identity and ideology: past, present and future.


Book Synopsis Beastly Questions by : Naomi Sykes

Download or read book Beastly Questions written by Naomi Sykes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zooarchaeology, or the study of ancient animals, is a frequently side-lined subject in archaeology. This is bizarre given that the archaeological record is composed largely of debris from human–animal relationships (be they in the form of animal bones, individual artifacts or entire landscapes) and that many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and geography, recognise human–animal interactions as a key source of information for understanding cultural ideology. By integrating knowledge from archaeological remains with evidence from texts, iconography, social anthropology and cultural geography, Beastly Questions: Animal Answers to Archaeological Issues seeks to encourage archaeological students, researchers and those working in the commercial sector to offer more engaging interpretations of the evidence at their disposal. Going beyond the simple confines of 'what people ate', this accessible but in-depth study covers a variety of high-profile topics in European archaeology and provides novel interpretations of mainstream archaeological questions. This includes cultural responses to wild animals, the domestication of animals and its implications on human daily practice, experience and ideology, the transportation of species and the value of incorporating animals into landscape research, the importance of the study of foodways for understanding past societies and how animal studies can help us to comprehend issues of human identity and ideology: past, present and future.

The Beast Within

The Beast Within

Author: Joyce E. Salisbury

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 113576431X

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Praise for the first edition: "...a brave and fascinating exploration of an area that has so far been rather neglected by both historical and literary critics. The Beast Within provides extremely valuable information on the legal and cultural background of the human-animal relationship..." -- Studies in the Age of Chaucer This important book offers a unique exploration of the use of and attitude towards animals from the 4th to the 14th centuries. The Beast Within explores the varying roles of animals as property, food and sexual objects, and the complex relationship that this created with the people and world around them. Joyce E. Salisbury takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, weaving a historical narrative that includes economic, legal, theological, literary and artistic sources. The book shows how by the end of the Middle Ages the lines between humans and animals had blurred completely, making us recognise the beast that lay within us all. This new edition has been brought right up to date with current scholarship, and includes a brand new chapter on animals on trial and animals as human companions, as well as expanded and updated discussions on fables and saints, and a new section on ‘bestial humans’. This important and provocative book remains a key work on the historical study of animals, as well as in the field of environmental history more generally, and also provides crucial context to ongoing debates on animal rights and the environment.


Book Synopsis The Beast Within by : Joyce E. Salisbury

Download or read book The Beast Within written by Joyce E. Salisbury and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for the first edition: "...a brave and fascinating exploration of an area that has so far been rather neglected by both historical and literary critics. The Beast Within provides extremely valuable information on the legal and cultural background of the human-animal relationship..." -- Studies in the Age of Chaucer This important book offers a unique exploration of the use of and attitude towards animals from the 4th to the 14th centuries. The Beast Within explores the varying roles of animals as property, food and sexual objects, and the complex relationship that this created with the people and world around them. Joyce E. Salisbury takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, weaving a historical narrative that includes economic, legal, theological, literary and artistic sources. The book shows how by the end of the Middle Ages the lines between humans and animals had blurred completely, making us recognise the beast that lay within us all. This new edition has been brought right up to date with current scholarship, and includes a brand new chapter on animals on trial and animals as human companions, as well as expanded and updated discussions on fables and saints, and a new section on ‘bestial humans’. This important and provocative book remains a key work on the historical study of animals, as well as in the field of environmental history more generally, and also provides crucial context to ongoing debates on animal rights and the environment.

Teaching the Animal

Teaching the Animal

Author: Margo DeMello

Publisher: Lantern Books

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1590562615

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Split into three sections, Teaching the Animal provides in-depth analysis of the nature of the discipline, the resources available, expectations of students and faculty, and a number of sample curricula in the fields of humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences.


Book Synopsis Teaching the Animal by : Margo DeMello

Download or read book Teaching the Animal written by Margo DeMello and published by Lantern Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Split into three sections, Teaching the Animal provides in-depth analysis of the nature of the discipline, the resources available, expectations of students and faculty, and a number of sample curricula in the fields of humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences.

In the Skin of a Beast

In the Skin of a Beast

Author: Peggy McCracken

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-05-17

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 022645892X

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In medieval literature, when humans and animals meet—whether as friends or foes—issues of mastery and submission are often at stake. In the Skin of a Beast shows how the concept of sovereignty comes to the fore in such narratives, reflecting larger concerns about relations of authority and dominion at play in both human-animal and human-human interactions. Peggy McCracken discusses a range of literary texts and images from medieval France, including romances in which animal skins appear in symbolic displays of power, fictional explorations of the wolf’s desire for human domestication, and tales of women and snakes converging in a representation of territorial claims and noble status. These works reveal that the qualities traditionally used to define sovereignty—lineage and gender among them—are in fact mobile and contingent. In medieval literary texts, as McCracken demonstrates, human dominion over animals is a disputed model for sovereign relations among people: it justifies exploitation even as it mandates protection and care, and it depends on reiterations of human-animal difference that paradoxically expose the tenuous nature of human exceptionalism.


Book Synopsis In the Skin of a Beast by : Peggy McCracken

Download or read book In the Skin of a Beast written by Peggy McCracken and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-05-17 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In medieval literature, when humans and animals meet—whether as friends or foes—issues of mastery and submission are often at stake. In the Skin of a Beast shows how the concept of sovereignty comes to the fore in such narratives, reflecting larger concerns about relations of authority and dominion at play in both human-animal and human-human interactions. Peggy McCracken discusses a range of literary texts and images from medieval France, including romances in which animal skins appear in symbolic displays of power, fictional explorations of the wolf’s desire for human domestication, and tales of women and snakes converging in a representation of territorial claims and noble status. These works reveal that the qualities traditionally used to define sovereignty—lineage and gender among them—are in fact mobile and contingent. In medieval literary texts, as McCracken demonstrates, human dominion over animals is a disputed model for sovereign relations among people: it justifies exploitation even as it mandates protection and care, and it depends on reiterations of human-animal difference that paradoxically expose the tenuous nature of human exceptionalism.

Human-Animal Studies

Human-Animal Studies

Author: Margo DeMello

Publisher: Lantern Books

Published: 2012-04

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 159056331X

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An exhaustive listing of books, journals, articles, films, conferences, college programs, organizations, and websites from the new and exciting discipline of Human-Animal studies. The information was gathered by leading academics in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences--this is the only reference of its kind. This project was completed in conjunction with the book Teaching the Animal.


Book Synopsis Human-Animal Studies by : Margo DeMello

Download or read book Human-Animal Studies written by Margo DeMello and published by Lantern Books. This book was released on 2012-04 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exhaustive listing of books, journals, articles, films, conferences, college programs, organizations, and websites from the new and exciting discipline of Human-Animal studies. The information was gathered by leading academics in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences--this is the only reference of its kind. This project was completed in conjunction with the book Teaching the Animal.

Animals and Sacred Bodies in Early Medieval Ireland

Animals and Sacred Bodies in Early Medieval Ireland

Author: John Soderberg

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-01-04

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1793630402

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Clonmacnoise was among the busiest, most economically complex, and intensely sacred places in early medieval Ireland. In Animals and Sacred Bodies in Early Medieval Ireland: Religion and Urbanism at Clonmacnoise, John Soderberg argues that animals are the key to understanding Clonmacnoise’s development as a thriving settlement and a sacred space. At this sanctuary city on the River Shannon, animal bodies were an essential source of food and raw materials. They were also depicted extensively on religious objects. Drawing from new theories about the intersections between religion and economics, John Soderberg explores how transformations emerging from animal encounters made Clonmacnoise a sacred settlement and created the sacred bodies of early medieval Ireland.


Book Synopsis Animals and Sacred Bodies in Early Medieval Ireland by : John Soderberg

Download or read book Animals and Sacred Bodies in Early Medieval Ireland written by John Soderberg and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clonmacnoise was among the busiest, most economically complex, and intensely sacred places in early medieval Ireland. In Animals and Sacred Bodies in Early Medieval Ireland: Religion and Urbanism at Clonmacnoise, John Soderberg argues that animals are the key to understanding Clonmacnoise’s development as a thriving settlement and a sacred space. At this sanctuary city on the River Shannon, animal bodies were an essential source of food and raw materials. They were also depicted extensively on religious objects. Drawing from new theories about the intersections between religion and economics, John Soderberg explores how transformations emerging from animal encounters made Clonmacnoise a sacred settlement and created the sacred bodies of early medieval Ireland.

Community, Urban Health and Environment in the Late Medieval Low Countries

Community, Urban Health and Environment in the Late Medieval Low Countries

Author: Janna Coomans

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1108923909

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By exploring the uniquely dense urban network of the Low Countries, Janna Coomans debunks the myth of medieval cities as apathetic towards filth and disease. Based on new archival research and adopting a bio-political and spatial-material approach, Coomans traces how cities developed a broad range of practices to protect themselves and fight disease. Urban societies negotiated challenges to their collective health in the face of social, political and environmental change, transforming ideas on civic duties and the common good. Tasks were divided among different groups, including town governments, neighbours and guilds, and affected a wide range of areas, from water, fire and food, to pigs, prostitutes and plague. By studying these efforts in the round, Coomans offers new comparative insights and bolsters our understanding of the importance of population health and the physical world - infrastructures, flora and fauna - in governing medieval cities.


Book Synopsis Community, Urban Health and Environment in the Late Medieval Low Countries by : Janna Coomans

Download or read book Community, Urban Health and Environment in the Late Medieval Low Countries written by Janna Coomans and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By exploring the uniquely dense urban network of the Low Countries, Janna Coomans debunks the myth of medieval cities as apathetic towards filth and disease. Based on new archival research and adopting a bio-political and spatial-material approach, Coomans traces how cities developed a broad range of practices to protect themselves and fight disease. Urban societies negotiated challenges to their collective health in the face of social, political and environmental change, transforming ideas on civic duties and the common good. Tasks were divided among different groups, including town governments, neighbours and guilds, and affected a wide range of areas, from water, fire and food, to pigs, prostitutes and plague. By studying these efforts in the round, Coomans offers new comparative insights and bolsters our understanding of the importance of population health and the physical world - infrastructures, flora and fauna - in governing medieval cities.

Rethinking Chaucerian Beasts

Rethinking Chaucerian Beasts

Author: Carolynn Van Dyke

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1137040734

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Building on recent work in critical animal studies and posthumanism, this book challenges past assumptions that animals were only explored as illustrative of humanity, not as interesting in their own right. The contributors combine close reading of Chaucer's texts with insights drawn from cultural or critical animal studies.


Book Synopsis Rethinking Chaucerian Beasts by : Carolynn Van Dyke

Download or read book Rethinking Chaucerian Beasts written by Carolynn Van Dyke and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on recent work in critical animal studies and posthumanism, this book challenges past assumptions that animals were only explored as illustrative of humanity, not as interesting in their own right. The contributors combine close reading of Chaucer's texts with insights drawn from cultural or critical animal studies.

Medieval Life

Medieval Life

Author: Roberta Gilchrist

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1843837226

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The aim of this book is to explore how medieval life was actually lived - how people were born and grew old, how they dressed, how they inhabited their homes, the rituals that gave meaning to their lives and how they prepared for death and the afterlife. Its fresh and original approach uses archaeological evidence to reconstruct the material practices of medieval life, death and the afterlife. Previous historical studies of the medieval "lifecycle" begin with birth and end with death. Here, in contrast, the concept of life course theory is developed for the first time in a detailed archaeological case study. The author argues that medieval Christian understanding of the "life course" commenced with conception and extended through the entirety of life, to include death and the afterlife. Five thematic case studies present the archaeology of medieval England (c.1050-1540 CE) in terms of the body, the household, the parish church and cemetery, and the relationship between the lives of people and objects. A wide range of sources is critically employed: osteology, costume, material culture, iconography and evidence excavated from houses, churches and cemeteries in the medieval English town and countryside. Medieval Life reveals the intimate and everyday relations between age groups, between the living and the dead, and between people and things.


Book Synopsis Medieval Life by : Roberta Gilchrist

Download or read book Medieval Life written by Roberta Gilchrist and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this book is to explore how medieval life was actually lived - how people were born and grew old, how they dressed, how they inhabited their homes, the rituals that gave meaning to their lives and how they prepared for death and the afterlife. Its fresh and original approach uses archaeological evidence to reconstruct the material practices of medieval life, death and the afterlife. Previous historical studies of the medieval "lifecycle" begin with birth and end with death. Here, in contrast, the concept of life course theory is developed for the first time in a detailed archaeological case study. The author argues that medieval Christian understanding of the "life course" commenced with conception and extended through the entirety of life, to include death and the afterlife. Five thematic case studies present the archaeology of medieval England (c.1050-1540 CE) in terms of the body, the household, the parish church and cemetery, and the relationship between the lives of people and objects. A wide range of sources is critically employed: osteology, costume, material culture, iconography and evidence excavated from houses, churches and cemeteries in the medieval English town and countryside. Medieval Life reveals the intimate and everyday relations between age groups, between the living and the dead, and between people and things.