Annie Potts (by William Lynn)
I have the honour and delight of introducing Annie Potts as an Advisor on Practical Ethics, and a contributing author to the Practical Ethics Blog. I met Annie at a recent conference for human-animal studies, having admired from afar the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies that she founded with Philip Armstrong.
Annie teaches Human-Animal Studies and Cultural Studies at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is the Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, also based at the University of Canterbury (www.nzchas.canterbury.ac.nz).
Annie specializes in the study of everyday culture (and popular culture). As well as lecturing on the representation of nonhuman animals and human-animal relations in Hollywood cinema, she teaches critical sexuality studies, and a course on depictions of the supernatural and occult in post-1960s American film.
Her main research interests at present include: the natural and cultural history of the chicken; the representation of nonhuman animals in horror and science-fiction genres; constructions of ‘pests’ in scientific and popular discourses; ethical consumption and subcultural identity; vegansexuality. Previous projects have included qualitative (interview-based) research on the social impact of Viagra, as well as cultural assumptions about normative sexuality, gender, and ‘sexual dysfunction’.
Along with Philip Armstrong and Deidre Brown, Annie Potts is currently the Co-Investigator of a major, funded study on historical and contemporary constructions of nonhuman animals in New Zealand art, literature and everyday culture.
In 2008, Annie will be completing Chicken for the Reaktion Animal Series.
You can contact her at:
Annie Potts, Bsc, PhD
New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies
University of Canterbury/ Te Whare W?nanga o Waitaha
PO Box 4800
Christchurch 8082
Aotearoa New Zealand
www.amst.canterbury.ac.nz/people/potts.shtml
annie.potts@canterbury.ac.nz
Selected Publications
Potts, A. (2002). The Science/Fiction of Sex: Feminist Deconstruction and the Vocabularies of Heterosex. London & New York: Routledge.
Potts, A., Gavey, N., & Weatherall, A. (Eds.). (2004). Sex and the Body. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press/Thomson Learning.
Armstrong, P., & Potts, A. (2004). Serving the wild. In A. Smith & L. Wevers (Eds.), On Display: New Essays in Cultural Tourism. Wellington: University of Victoria Press, pp. 15-40.
Potts, A., & Tiefer, L. (Eds.). (2006). Viagra culture. Sexualities, 9(3).
Potts, A. (2007). The mark of the beast: Inscribing animality through extreme body modification. In L. Simmons & P. Armstrong (Eds.), Knowing Animals. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 131-154.
Potts, A., & White, M. (2007). Cruelty-free Consumption in New Zealand: A National Report on the Perspectives and Experiences of Vegetarians and Other Ethical Consumers. Christchurch: NZCHAS.
(see http://www.nzchas.canterbury.ac.nz/news.shtml)
Potts, A., Armstrong, P., & Brown, D. (forthcoming). Kararehe: Animals in New Zealand Art, Literature and Everyday Culture. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
William Lynn :: Jan.10.2008 :: Human-Animal Studies :: No Comments »