Researcher-Native Relations: Situating Emerging Animal Models in Australian Science

• In Event: Organisms and Us in Dialogue

Abstract

This paper considers researcher-animal relationships, comparing standard animal models such as the mouse and rat (which have been extensively explored in terms of their social status) with native animals as emerging models in contemporary Australian research. Native animals often hold special social and cultural significance both within and outside of their home countries. In this paper using published literature, interviews, and observations, we explore how researchers working with native Australian species think about their animal research subjects and how these attitudes or ways of thinking are influenced by broader structures such as existing norms within society and in various types of research. We contend that these native animal models simultaneously have multiple roles and types of relations with respect to researchers, but that some types of research agendas permit them to be conceptualised as non-other. Thus it is critical to understand researcher-animal relations as deeply situated in relation to the particularities of the models utilized and closely tied to scientific practices.

Authors

• Rachel Ankeny, The University of Adelaide

• Karina Burns, University of Adelaide