“This beautiful and pleasurable collection . . . provides an excellent contribution to the current lively discussion within animal studies"
Louisa Mackenzie’s (French & Italian) recent essay on sea monsters contributes to a lively discussion on animal studies and identity in Early Modernism. Her article, “French Early Modern Sea-Monsters and Modern Identities, via Bruno Latour,” appears in Animals and Early Modern Identity (Ed. Pia F. Cuneo, Ashgate, 2014), a collection investigating how animals — horses, dogs, pigs, hogs, fish, cattle, sheep, birds, rhinoceroses, even mythological creatures — allowed people to defend, contest, or transcend the boundaries of early modern identities.
The book drew a strong review from the Times Literary Supplement, which turned twice to Louisa’ article exploring “the tension between ‘purified’ and ‘hybrid’ knowledge in relation to the attempts of early modern zoologists . . . to tackle reports of sea monsters.”
“This beautiful and pleasurable collection . . . provides an excellent contribution to the current lively discussion within animal studies,” writes reviewer Annette Volfing.
Louisa developed her article as part of the 2012-13 Society of Scholars at the Simpson Center. She also co-leads, with María Elena García (Comparative History of Ideas) the Intersectional Animal Studies collaboration studio at the Simpson Center this year.
Congratulations, Louisa!