Mourning Animals
Rituals and Practices Surrounding Animal Death
Published on 1. August 2016
Book
Hardback
261 pages
978-1-61186-212-6 (ISBN)
Description
We live more intimately with nonhuman animals than ever before in history. The change in the way we cohabitate with animals can be seen in the way we treat them when they die. There is an almost infinite variety of ways to help us cope with the loss of our nonhuman friends-from burial, cremation, and taxidermy; to wearing or displaying the remains (ashes, fur, or other parts) of our deceased animals in jewelry, tattoos, or other artwork; to counselors who specialize in helping people mourn pets; to classes for veterinarians; to tips to help the surviving animals who are grieving their animal friends; to pet psychics and memorial websites. But the reality is that these practices, and related beliefs about animal souls or animal afterlife, generally only extend, with very few exceptions, to certain kinds of animals-pets. Most animals, in most cultures, are not mourned, and the question of an animal afterlife is not contemplated at all. Mourning Animals investigates how we mourn animal deaths, which animals are grievable, and what the implications are for all animals.
Reviews / Votes
"Our relationships with animals are haunted by death. It lingers in the liminal space of the soul in grief-in painful recognition when a beloved cat, rabbit, parrot, or dog passes; in the confused stricken anonymity of worldwide extinctions; and in the palpable suffering behind factory walls. In its lyrical marriage of personal experience and scholarship, Mourning Animals brings together the beauty, love, and exquisite poignancy of what it means to live with animal kin."-G. A. Bradshaw, author of Elephants on the Edge and director of the Kerulos Center
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
East Lansing, MI
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
63
Dimensions
Height: 261 mm
Width: 179 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
828 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61186-212-6 (9781611862126)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Margo DeMello is an adjunct professor in the anthrozoology master's program at Canisius College and the program director for Human-Animal Studies at the Animals and Society Institute.
Content
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Discarded Property / Mary Shannon Johnstone
Part 1. When Did We Start Caring about Animal Death?
More than a Bag of Bones: A History of Animal Burials / Ivy D. Collier
Mourning the Sacrifice: Behavior and Meaning behind Animal Burials / James Morris
Horses, Mourning: Interspecies Embodiment, Belonging, and Bereavement in the Past and Present / Gala Argent
The Issue of Animals' Souls within the Anglican Debate in the Eighteenth to Nineteenth Centuries / Alma Massaro
Hartsdale Pet Cemetery / Liza Wallis Margulies
Part 2. Companion Animals: Those We Love
All the World and a Little Bit More: Pet Cemetery Practices and Contemporary Relations between Humans and Their Companion Animals / Michal Piotr Pregowski
To All that Fly or Crawl: A Recent History of Mourning for Animals in Korea / Elmer Veldkamp
Freeze-Drying Fido: The Uncanny Aesthetics of Modern Taxidermy / Christina M. Colvin
Clutching at Straws: Dogs, Death, and Frozen Semen / Chrissie Wanner
I Remember Everything: Children, Companion Animals, and a Relational Pedagogy of Remembrance / Joshua Russell
On Cats and Contradictions: Mourning Animal Death in an English Community / Becky Tipper
So Sorry for the Loss of Your Little Friend: Pets' Grievability in Condolence Cards for Humans Mourning Animals / David Redmalm
Claire: Last Days / Julia Schlosser
Part 3. Memorials and the "Special" Treatment of the Dead
Britain at War: Remembering and Forgetting the Animal Dead of the Second World War / Hilda Kean
Now on Exhibit: Our Affection for, Remembrance of, and Tributes to Nonhuman Animals in Museums / Carolyn Merino Mullin
Another Death / Emma Kisiel
Part 4. Animals We Do Not Mourn
In the Heart of Every Horse: Combating a History of Equine Exploitation and Slaughter through the Commemoration of an "Average" Thoroughbred Racehorse / Tamar V. S. McKee
Creating Carnivores and Cannibals: Animal Feed and the Regulation of Grief / Keridiana Chez
Mourning the Mundane: Memorializing Road-Killed Animals in North America / Linda Monahan
The Unmourned / Linda Brant
Part 5. Problems with Coping and Human Responsibility
Beyond Coping: Active Mourning in the Animal Sheltering Community / Jessica Austin
Mourning for Animals: A Companion Animal Veterinarian's Perspective / Anne Fawcett
You're My Sanctuary: Grief, Vulnerability, and Unexpected Secondary Losses for Animal Advocates Mourning a Companion Animal / Nicole R. Pallotta
Keeping Ghosts Close: Care and Grief at Sanctuaries / pattrice jones and Lori Gruen
Grieving at a Distance / Teya Brooks Pribac
Who Is It Acceptable to Grieve? / Jo-Anne McArthur
Bibliography
About the Contributors
Index
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Discarded Property / Mary Shannon Johnstone
Part 1. When Did We Start Caring about Animal Death?
More than a Bag of Bones: A History of Animal Burials / Ivy D. Collier
Mourning the Sacrifice: Behavior and Meaning behind Animal Burials / James Morris
Horses, Mourning: Interspecies Embodiment, Belonging, and Bereavement in the Past and Present / Gala Argent
The Issue of Animals' Souls within the Anglican Debate in the Eighteenth to Nineteenth Centuries / Alma Massaro
Hartsdale Pet Cemetery / Liza Wallis Margulies
Part 2. Companion Animals: Those We Love
All the World and a Little Bit More: Pet Cemetery Practices and Contemporary Relations between Humans and Their Companion Animals / Michal Piotr Pregowski
To All that Fly or Crawl: A Recent History of Mourning for Animals in Korea / Elmer Veldkamp
Freeze-Drying Fido: The Uncanny Aesthetics of Modern Taxidermy / Christina M. Colvin
Clutching at Straws: Dogs, Death, and Frozen Semen / Chrissie Wanner
I Remember Everything: Children, Companion Animals, and a Relational Pedagogy of Remembrance / Joshua Russell
On Cats and Contradictions: Mourning Animal Death in an English Community / Becky Tipper
So Sorry for the Loss of Your Little Friend: Pets' Grievability in Condolence Cards for Humans Mourning Animals / David Redmalm
Claire: Last Days / Julia Schlosser
Part 3. Memorials and the "Special" Treatment of the Dead
Britain at War: Remembering and Forgetting the Animal Dead of the Second World War / Hilda Kean
Now on Exhibit: Our Affection for, Remembrance of, and Tributes to Nonhuman Animals in Museums / Carolyn Merino Mullin
Another Death / Emma Kisiel
Part 4. Animals We Do Not Mourn
In the Heart of Every Horse: Combating a History of Equine Exploitation and Slaughter through the Commemoration of an "Average" Thoroughbred Racehorse / Tamar V. S. McKee
Creating Carnivores and Cannibals: Animal Feed and the Regulation of Grief / Keridiana Chez
Mourning the Mundane: Memorializing Road-Killed Animals in North America / Linda Monahan
The Unmourned / Linda Brant
Part 5. Problems with Coping and Human Responsibility
Beyond Coping: Active Mourning in the Animal Sheltering Community / Jessica Austin
Mourning for Animals: A Companion Animal Veterinarian's Perspective / Anne Fawcett
You're My Sanctuary: Grief, Vulnerability, and Unexpected Secondary Losses for Animal Advocates Mourning a Companion Animal / Nicole R. Pallotta
Keeping Ghosts Close: Care and Grief at Sanctuaries / pattrice jones and Lori Gruen
Grieving at a Distance / Teya Brooks Pribac
Who Is It Acceptable to Grieve? / Jo-Anne McArthur
Bibliography
About the Contributors
Index