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<div><font color="#660000" size="4"><b>STS Circle at Harvard</b></font></div>
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<div><font size="4"><b>Irus Braverman</b></font></div>
<div><i>University of Buffalo, State University of New York, Law and Geography</i></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><i><br></i></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">on</font></div>
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<div><font size="4"><b>The Nature of Zoos: Captive Animal Networks in North America</b></font></div><div>Monday, January 30th</div>
<div><font color="#000000">12:15-2:00 p.m.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room
106</font></div><div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><span style="border-collapse:collapse;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><img src="cid:ii_13341b7c62335428" alt="image.png" title="image.png"></span></font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Lunch is provided if you RSVP.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Please RSVP to</font> <a href="mailto:sts@hks.harvard.edu" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">sts</font></a><a href="mailto:sts@hks.harvard.edu" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">@hks.harvard.edu</font></a><font color="#000000"> by
5pm Thursday, January 26th.</font></div>
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<div><b>Abstract:</b> <font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">My presentation begins with the story of Timmy, the
oldest male gorilla in North America. Timmy’s story parallels the dramatic
transformations undergone by North American zoos over the last several decades.
While early zoos and menageries were dedicated largely to entertaining the
public, modern zoos emphasize conservation and education as their central
institutional missions. Timmy’s
story highlights the various technologies that North American zoos use to govern
captive animals. First, it demonstrates how zoos naturalize their spaces,
classify their animals, and produce an experience of seeing for their human
visitors. Second, it highlights the everyday processes by which zoo animals are
named, identified, and recorded within the zoo world and how they are then registered
onto institutional and global databases and informational networks. Thirdly,
Timmy’s story exemplifies how animal bodies are translated into laws, and how
these laws manifest in the material world. And finally, it calls attention to
both the nature and the politics of the zoo’s network, giving special attention
to the importance of genetic reproduction for the immediate survival of this
network. Throughout, Timmy’s story illuminates the pastoral power of zoos:
their self-assumed role as the animal’s exclusive human caregivers.</font></div>
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<div><b>Biography</b>: <font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Irus Braverman is an Associate Professor of
Law and an Adjunct Professor of Geography at the University at Buffalo, State
University of New York. Her main interests lie in the interdisciplinary study
of law, geography, anthropology, and STS. Writing within this nexus, Braverman
has researched illegal houses, trees, checkpoints, public toilets, and zoos.
Braverman's first book, <span><i>House
Demolitions in East Jerusalem: 'Illegality' and Resistance</i></span> (2006,
Hebrew), focuses on how planning laws and regulations applied in East Jerusalem
create a discriminatory urban landscape and produce illegal spaces. Her second
book, <span><i>Planted Flags:
Trees, Land, and Law in Israel/Palestine</i></span> (Cambridge University
Press, 2009), describes how acts of planting and uprooting trees have
facilitated the struggle over land and identity in Israel/Palestine. In <i>The Institution of Captivity: Governing Zoo
Animals in North America </i>(forthcoming 2012, Stanford University Press), Braverman
presents a mundane account of zoo networks.</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">A complete list of STS Circle at Harvard
events can be found on our website:</font></div>
<div><a href="http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/</font></a></div>
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