Paper short abstract:

Lullabies are a significant genre of Folk Literature in almost every nation, which include different themes from which this article is supposed to study the themes of animals in selected folk English and Persian lullabies.

Paper long abstract:

“It must be remembered that the dance was not the only primitive activity, the rhythm of which evoked that of song. The rocking of the cradle was another” (Opie 19)

Being highly cultural, lullabies-genesis of all songs- are a significant genre of Folk Literature in almost every nation. Assuming the age of lullabies to be at least 4000 years, they include various themes from which this article is supposed to study the themes of animals (as well as birds and insects) in selected folk English and Persian lullabies. Furthermore, the present paper discusses how the concept of animals is represented in the lullabies regarding the term “absent referent”-“a subject whose identity becomes lost in a one-sided metaphorical comparison meant to illustrate the condition of another” (De Angelis 232)- coined by the feminist literary theorist, Carol J. Adams presented in her book, The Sexual Politics of Meat. While specifically comparing and contrasting how these two culturally and linguistically different languages have employed animals, this article identifies the animality of animals in these folk songs to distinguish literary or folk animals from real ones. Studying some showcases of folk English and Persian lullabies, this article argues to what extent English and Persian lullaby singers not only have not seen animals as the objects representing the human traits and features, but also have been aware of their existence as real animals. Hereby, the lullaby singer is acting as a camera or a reporter that records and tells of the life of animals. Nevertheless, they have also employed animals in some lullabies as the absent referents to nurture the infants depicting some animals that have metamorphosed into human beings who can talk, sleep and live as they do.

Keywords: Animal studies, Absent referent, English lullabies, Persian lullabies, and Folk Literature

Adams, C. J. (2015). Sexual politics of meat. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Angelis, Richard De. “Of Mice and Vermin: Animals as Absent Referent in Art Spiegelman's Maus.” (2005).

Opie, I. A. (1975). The Oxford Nursery Rhyme. Oxford University Press.

Paper short abstract:

This proposal departs from a posthumanist perspective of bodies, gender, affects and politics to dig into the nature/culture divide, the current use of animals as political symbols and the political effects of hybridisation.

Paper long abstract:

With 20 years of difference, Matthew Gutmann (2019) and Susan Bordo (1999) discussed the “animality” of men and the consequences of considering that biology determines human behavior and that men are dominated by their impulses and instincts. The gendered and sexual division of men and women has always run along the division between culture and nature and the division between humans and other non-human animals.

On January 6, 2021, among the Trump supporters who stormed the Washington Capitol we found Jacob Anthony Chansley - also known as Jake Angeli. Shirtless, with a muscled and tattoed body and wearing a headdress made of coyote skin and buffalo horns, his striking image quickly swept the world. Numerous memes and copycats have filled the Internet since then and, in Spain, bull-headed men have participated in right-wing political demonstrations.

This proposal departs from a posthumanist perspective of bodies, gender, affects and politics and aims to dig into the nature/culture divide, the current use of animals as political symbols and the political effects of hybridisation. A posthumanist reading of hybrid bodies allows us to delve into the political quality of (male) bodies at a time when the American alt-right and European right-wing populisms are hardly comprehensible without taking into account their anti-feminism, their masculinism and, in general, their nationalism (ethnonationalism). Through human-animal hybridisation, three powerful systems of classification and identification (gender, ethnicity, nation) are linked, entangled and mixed today with strong political effects.

Paper short abstract:

While questioning culture and nature, the urban and the rular, the human and the non-human this paper explores why humans keep companion animals and what effects they have on city life. These questions will be examined through a case study in Reykjavik, and the effects of a recently lifted dog-ban

Paper long abstract:

While questioning the assumed binaries of culture and nature, the urban and the rural as well as the human and the non-human, this paper fundamentally explores why humans want to keep companion animals and what effects do they have on city life. It is often said that opposites attract, but are these concepts rather discursive mechanisms that co-exist and thrive on each other? Life in cities depends on the existence and production of what can be found outside them - and vice versa. Could the same be said in terms of discourse and can pets be considered liminal beings that represent both the urban and the rural? These questions will be examined through a case study on a recently lifted dog-ban in Reykjavík, its impact on discourse, views and the realities behind it. Dogs are considered humans best friends and are the first non human animals to live with humans and to be of use to them. They have a long and a diverse history with humans and have been useful to them in multiple ways through the centuries. In 2006 a ban on dog ownership in Icelandic towns was lifted for the first time since 1924. The commonly held view that "dogs don't belong in cities" seems to have eroded somewhat as their numbers have greatly increased in recent decades. In light of these developments, post-human approaches in folklore and ethnology will be applied to explore why humans keep companion animals and what effect they have on city life.

Paper short abstract:

The paper deals with the return of the wild boar to the Swedish landscape, a return which caused a heated debate about whether the hogs had the right of residence, or not. The discussions referred to both the feral status of the wild boar, and its ferociousness.

Paper long abstract:

The paper deals with the return of the wild boar to the Swedish landscape, a return which caused a heated debate about whether the hogs had the right of residence, or not. The discussions referred to both the feral status of the wild boar, and its ferociousness. The question of the degree of wildness of the wild boar became central to the debate. The difficulties of hunting such an aggressive animal was paired with an admiration of its independence. The wildness of the wild boar was linked to its geographical distribution as well as to ideas about control. The boar itself, however, seemed to evade any attempt of both categorization and control and increasingly rummaged the Swedish landscape, reproducing exponentially.