Patients Or Models? Dogs As Laboratory Companions In Cancer Research

• In Event: Animals and Technology Around the World, Past and Present 2

Abstract

The pro-curial framing of biomedical research (Thompson 2013) has brought with it a proliferation of novel laboratory technologies and practices. This paper builds on STS work interrogating mice and primates as sites of translation in laboratory practices to examine how dogs have been integrated into an Australian biomedical research institute. Drawing upon ethnographic study of a laboratory, I examine three economic sites: the family unit, the nation and the university, to critically interrogate how our fantasies about life and death are negotiated with and through canine companions. What role do dogs specifically play in these fantasies that other animals seem unable to fulfil?

Authors

• Declan Liam Kuch, UNSW

• Matthew Kearnes, Environmental Humanities Progarmme, School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wale