Maritime Animals: Telling stories of animals at sea (April 25-27, 2019)Two and half-day international conference
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, UK
Keynote speakers:Thom van Dooren and William Gervase Clarence-Smith and featuring films by Jessica Sarah Rinland
In maritime narratives of humans, ships and the sea, animals are too often absent, or marginalised in passing references, despite the fact that ships once carried, and were populated by, all kinds of animals. Horses, mules and other ‘military’ animals crossed the sea to their battlefields, while livestock were brought onboard to be killed and eaten. Sailors and passengers kept animal companions, ranging widely from cats and parrots to ferrets and monkeys. Animal stowaways, such as rats, termites and shipworms, did tremendous damage to ships’ structures and stores, especially during the age of sail. Moreover, countless animals – seabirds, dolphins, porpoises, etc. – would visit and accompany ships, filling many sea narratives with the wonder of oceanic animal encounters.
The conference seeks to shed fresh light on maritime history by placing animals centre stage. Papers are sought which uncover all aspects of animals’ involvements (and entanglements) with ships and their activities. It calls upon the power of story-telling to repopulate maritime history with animals, by telling, and listening to, surprising stories about them.
Registration: For the conference programme and registration details, please visit the Museum conference website: https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/exhibitions-events/maritime-animals-telling-stories
Please contact Lizelle de Jager (ldejager@rmg.co.uk or call 020 8312 6716) if you have any queries about registration or wish to book for individual days. For all other queries, please contact the conference organiser Dr. Kaori Nagai K.Nagai@kent.ac.uk
The conference is organised by the Kent Animal Humanities Network. For further information, visit our website: https://research.kent.ac.uk/kentanimalhumanitiesnetwork/maritime-animals-conference