Society of Scholars
The Society of Scholars is an intellectual community of humanists of diverse generations, academic ranks, and departmental affiliations who contribute to and learn from one another’s work. Each year, approximately eight faculty and three dissertation research fellowships support members of the Society of Scholars. Scholars in year-long residence at the University of Washington may be invited to participate as well. The group meets biweekly throughout the year to discuss their research in progress.
Apply for the Fellowship (Faculty)
2026 - 2027 Society of Scholars
2020 - 2021 Society of Scholars Fellow
Robert Anderson (he/him/his or they/them/theirs)
Producing Wolves: The Cultural Politics of Wolf Conservation and Management
This project examines the social production of human values and norms regarding wildlife and the natural world. Using in-depth, qualitative methods, I examine the cultural and political controversy over wolves (re)colonizing territory, moving into landscapes where they are brought into new, violent relations with human societies. In contrast to prevailing ideas about wolves as pristine, “wild” animals, I examine conservation as a social practice that not only aims to protect wolves, but actually produces them, in tandem with norms of environmental governance dictating where and how wolves and people coexist.