Gatty Lecture Series

Join us for a talk by Juno Salazar Parreñas, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University.

This Gatty Lecture will take place at the Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Ave. Lunch will be served. For questions, contact seap@cornell.edu.

Abstract

In 1978, the tropical city-state of Singapore received three polar bears, starting a dynasty of polar bears that ended in 2018. Within the lifespan of these tropical polar bears, the entire planet has undergone rapid and exponential growth in economies, human populations, agricultural intensification, deforestation, and the burning and consuming of carbon and chemicals--all indelibly changing the entire planet. Singapore has been a central hub for 20th and 21st century economic development, despite its dearth of natural resources. How might the story of Singapore’s famously cultivated landscape be told from the perspective of wild Canadian-born polar bears held captive in tropical Singapore? What forms of ferality erupted the controlled landscape of Singapore Zoo? This paper is based on ongoing archival and ethnographic research in Singapore, Canada, and the US.

About the Speaker

Juno Salazar Parreñas is an Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. Her book Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation (Duke UP, 2018) received the Michelle Rosaldo Prize from the Association for Feminist Anthropology and honorable mentions for the Association of Asian Studies' Harry Benda Prize, Society for Medical Anthropology's New Millenia Award, and the American Anthropological Association's Diana Forsythe Prize. She is also the editor of Gender: Animals (Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks, 2017)