Today we are continuing our discussion of ‘power words’, terms that humans use to control the narratives of otherthanhuman lives. Today’s term is ‘feral’, and it is a contentious term, in our opinion. Our paper on this topic ‘Uncivilised Behaviors’ was published last year in Society and Animals journal, and today we will unpack that paper in a discussion with our special guest and coauthor, Debbie Busby.

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Podcrew:

Dr. Kris Hill
PhD Candidate, University of Exeter
kh458@exeter.ac.uk
https://katzenlife.wordpress.com/

Dr. Michelle Szydlowski
ms835@exeter.ac.uk
www.internationalelephants.org
@intl_elephants

Sarah Oxley Heaney
PhD Student, University of Exeter
sh750@exeter.ac.uk
​www.kissingsharks.com/

Podlet Guest:

Debbie Busby
Registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist for Horses and Dogs
PhD Candidate, Manchester Metropolitan University
deborah.busby@stu.mmu.ac.uk
https://evolutionequine.wordpress.com/

References and Resources

Merrian-Webster Dictionary Definition of “Feral”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feral#:~:text=%3A%20of%2C%20relating%20to%2C%20or,not%20domesticated%20or%20cultivated%20%3A%20wild

Hill, K. Szydlowski, M. Oxley Heaney, S. Busby, D. (2022). Uncivilized behaviors: how humans wield “feral” to assert power (and control) over other species. Society & Animals. Online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-bja10088

Hill, K. (2022). Feral and out of control: a moral panic over free-roaming cats? in Anthrozoology Studies: Animal Life and Human Culture, edited by I. Frasin, G. Bodi, S. Bulei, C. D. Vasiliu. Romania: Presa Universitară Clujeană. pp. 123-157. http://www.editura.ubbcluj.ro/bd/ebooks/pdf/3343.pdf

Ingold, T. (2000). “From trust to domination: an alternative history of human-animal relations.” In The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. Edited by Tim Ingold. London, New York: Routledge.

Mica, A. (2010). Moral Panic, Risk or Hazard Society — the Relevance of a Theoretical Model and Framings of " Maidan " Dogs in Chişinău and Bucharest. Sociological Review, 169, 41–56.

Pauwels, A. (2003). Linguistic Sexism and Feminist Linguistic Activism. In J. Holmes & M. Meyerhoff (Eds.), The Handbook of Language and Gender (pp. 550–570). https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch24

Price, E. O. (2003). Animal Domestication and Behavior. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Szydlowski, M., Hill, K., Oxley Heaney, S., Hooper, J. (2022). Domestication and domination: human terminology as a tool for controlling otherthanhuman animal bodies. TRACE: Journal for Human-Animal Studies. 8(1). https://doi.org/10.23984/fjhas.110388