Postgraduate Researchers

Marlies Bockstal

I am a PhD candidate in Human-Animal Studies at the University of Canterbury. My PhD research project focuses on purebred dog breeding practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular, I will examine the current ‘responsible breeding’ discourse by exploring the ways in which ‘responsible’ breeders view and experience their breeding practices of purebred dogs, and exploring the complexity of interspecies relationships between breeders and their dogs in the context of these ‘responsible breeding practices’.

My study is informed by key components of intersectional (eco)feminist, posthumanist, biopolitical and critical animal studies approaches. The data collection will be done by employing a species-inclusive, visual and sensory ethnographic research design, guided by an intersectional feminist narrative analysis as an analytical framework. In sum, by examining ‘responsible breeding practices’ through applying these theoretical and methodological frameworks, my project aims to gain a more in-depth understanding of what ‘responsible breeding’ means for both the breeders and the dogs used for breeding purposes and their well-being, and how their breeding practices are framed within the broader ‘responsible breeding’ discourse.   

I completed my Master of Science in Sociology in 2019 at the University of Ghent. For my master’s dissertation, I conducted a qualitative study that focused on the interactions between young children and their dogs in the family context. Before starting my PhD, I also worked as a junior researcher at the Sociology Department of Ghent University in Belgium where I worked on two research projects: the Red Nose project on mental health stigma among Flemish adolescents, and the EU VAX-TRUST research project on vaccine hesitancy in Europe.

Junior Researcher, Department of Sociology, Ghent University (2020-2021)

Master of Science in Sociology, Ghent University (2019)

Bachelor of Science in Sociology, Ghent University (2018)

Email: marlies.bockstal@pg.canterbury.ac.nz

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marliesbockstal/

Eve D'Vincent

Eve's PhD research focussed on the use of zoo animals as so-called "ambassadors" for their species, revealing the exploitative marketing tactics behind their individualized narratives. Drawing on cognitive and behavioral ethology, transspecies psychology, and critical anthropomorphism, thesis exposed how zoos fabricate biographies to mask the harsh reality of animals’ lived experiences in captivity. It critiqued the disruptions of animal culture caused by captive breeding programs and the tragic fate of surplus animals deemed no longer useful. Advocating for authentic animal biographies and ethical engagement, Eve argued for a shift in human-animal relations that honors animals as unique individuals with intrinsic value, transcending the confines of their captive roles. Her thesis was accepted for publication by the prestigious academic publisher Brill and is now available as a book, Captive Ambassadors: The Hidden Lives of Zoo Animals.

Éilis Espiner

Éilis (Eilish) is a PhD candidate in human-animal studies at UC. Her project involves a sociocultural and political analysis of human-animal relationships in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand, exploring how reductionist attitudes towards nonhuman animals inform mainstream culture in Aotearoa. Her research interests include ecofeminism, gender studies, queer theory, meat culture, climate justice, and veganism (and all the intersectioanlities between them...!). She completed a Master’s of Policy and Governance in 2019 with a dissertation thesis titled Interspecies Sustainable Development: intersectional empathetic approaches to food and climate justice.

Shannon Johnstone

I am an artist, photography professor, and animal advocate. As an artist, I create work that examines the balance between absence and presence. I am particularly interested in themes that reclaim what has been discarded, and make visible that which is hidden. I hope to address these same themes in my PhD research in human-animal studies as I look at how images of cruelty toward animals function. I am interested in the ethics of bearing witness, empathy, animals in captivity, and how photography can create change. I live in North Carolina with my human husband, Anthony, a very cute dog named Stella FruitBat, and a mischievous and aptly named cat called "Rotten". We also host a colony of bats in our backyard, but I don't know them as well.

Professor, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC (2002–present, tenured in 2008)

MFA Rochester Institute of Technology (2001)

BFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1996)

www.shannonjohnstone.com

Shannon completed her research into the relationship between empathy and animal photography in 2024. Her thesis can be accessed via the UC research repository: The Latent Animal Image: Exposing Suffering and Developing Change.

Erin Jones

My research reflects my applied interest dog behaviour, a field where I work as a consultant and educator. My mission is helping people improve their relationships with their dogs. I am an advocate for humane training and improving our perception of dog culture so that our dogs have the best possible quality of life.

The human-dog interspecies relationship is unique: dogs and humans have evolved along side one another, sharing the same environmental niche for thousands of years. Dogs have the ability to interpret our slightest gestures, to read our facial expressions, and respond to the subtle tones in our voice. Because of these invaluable abilities, dogs have been bred selectively to benefit our needs. Despite this, not all human-dog relationships are positive. In order to understand why some relationship’s fail, it is important to first disentangle the underpinnings of how these relationships affect all members.

Currently, most social science-oriented research focuses on the human benefit of pet ownership or how humans are affected by the dogs in their lives. Alternatively, most ethological studies examining canine behaviour do not include the human member within the relationship or the household dynamic as confounding variables, creating a blanket assumption about “the dog”. To further understand why some human relationships negatively impact dogs, we need to be able to create a connection between cognitive behavioural studies and social science as a way to address such vexing ethical terrain. To do so, we need to understand what social constructs have created “the dog” and the impact our interactions have on “the dog” in order to improve their emotional welfare. I use a mixed methodological approach of merging social science and cognitive behavioural research, by addressing the societal norms surrounding who is “the dog”, how this impacts the adoption of humane training, and the interjection of knowledge used to facilitate an augmentation of both consent and autonomy.

The welfare of companion dogs must extend beyond simply providing adequate amenities and provisions; it needs to also consider the psychological effects of training and management, both positive (clarifying the conversation) and negative (dictation and limitations of conformity). Collectively, this will contribute to the research backing a standardization and regulation within both the welfare sector, and the dog training industry. 

MSc Canisius College (Anthrozoology)

BSc Trent University (Psychology & Anthropology)

CDBC, IAABC

CPDT-KA, CCPDT

Professional memberships: AASA, APDTNZ

Email: erin.jones@pg.canterbury.ac.nz

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-anzo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeritDog/

Erin's completed PhD thesis was the basis for her book Constructing Canine Consent.

Panar Kaminski

My current research is a synthesis of my various passions in history, literature, and animal studies. I aim to explore the potentials of posthumanism and intersectionality as a framework for literary analysis to move beyond problematic anthropocentric readings and reveal the fluidity of ontological boundaries. Specifically, I examine human-animal hybrids in science fiction and fantasy literature from 1890 to the early 1930s to delineate pervading assumptions of humanity and animality. The primary texts include works from seminal authors such as H.G. Wells and Mikhail Bulgakov, as well as the widely read science fictions of H.P Lovecraft, Alexander Belyaev, Karel Capek and Arthur Conan Doyle. In the texts under investigation, science, politics and arts intersect in the image of hybrid beings that couples both human and non-human beings into a single organism. The metamorphosis of human-animal hybrids witnessed here express wider notions of degeneration, social Darwinism, and transhumanism, thus necessitating an intersectional framework that recognises the complexities of such an examination in order to reveal deeper understandings of humans, animals and their interrelationships.

Panar's completed thesis can be accessed via the UC research repository: Transforming humans and animals in literature and society (1890-1920s) : hybridism, posthumanism, and intersectionality.

Ekaterina Krylova

Raised by the black cat that kept away ignorant humans, I am keen to return the favour by addressing ethical issues tied to companion animals' representation on social media. In my PhD research, I focus on profiles featuring talking animals. Banned as unauthentic less than a decade ago, pet influencers create a new site for affective labour nowadays. Image-based participatory platforms allow us to develop synthetic personalities that combine the appearance of a cute pet and our capability for verbal expression. The practice of speaking for and through animals transforms them into a medium for promoting different ideas, values, products, and services. I study this phenomenon to explain how its obscured agencies shape our attitude towards nonhuman others and map the conditions in which individual voices standing behind animal narrators serve agendas of neoliberal superstructures operating through new technologies. Understanding how this practice unfolds under algorithmic governance and what kind of world-building it does will allow the identification of veiled forms of abuse coinciding with specific patterns of speaking on behalf of animals. In my PhD project, I continue my previous studies of abusive pet-making by exploring the possibilities for critical theory to engage with pretending-to-be-animal speech. In the MA dissertation, I argued that companion species are validated by neoliberal cultures primarily as affective labourers, therefore exploited to evoke strong sentiment and commitment. This makes them subjects to cuteness engineering, a process of altering their anatomy and behavioural traits aimed at creating literal 'furkids'. Their voices go through a similar transformation, affecting our attitude to all animals, be they 'privileged' or despised. 

MA in Contemporary Art Theory, Goldsmiths, University of London
Specialist degree in Art History, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow 

Email: Ekaterina.krylova@pg.canterbury.ac.nz

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katya.krylova.54

Emily Major

While growing up in rural Canada, I always felt like my sensitive emotions and overwhelming compassion for animals was out-of-place. They created a heavy, immeasurable weight that seemed to only be visible to me; I did not understand why only I seemed to recognize and understand animal injustices occurring all around me and why no one else appeared to care. Luckily, I had the serendipitous introduction to animal geography in one of my Human Geography undergraduate courses (it was a blurb on a single slide!), which led to my Master’s in Anthrozoology, and to my current educational venture, my PhD research in Human-Animal Studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Suddenly, this burden of emotion and compassion became one of my strongest qualities as a Critical Animal Studies scholar looking at a myriad of animal issues. With particular interest in speciesism, wildlife/pet trade, wildlife rehabilitation and release, compassionate conservation, and intersectionality, I am currently researching speciesism and pest control within the New Zealand archipelago, looking at how various educational sites where native/non-native animals perpetuate certain beliefs about what animals ‘belong’ in New Zealand and what animals do not. With a focus on positive empathy and compassionate conservation, I am interested in starting a discussion on how ‘pest’ animals are (mis)treated within New Zealand, signalling how this reflects a larger narrative of what (human/non-human) bodies ‘belong’ in New Zealand, seeking to provide tangible solutions to warm the cross-species intolerance on an individual (and ultimately, national) scale.

PhD Candidate, University of Canterbury

MA Anthrozoology, University of Exeter

BAH Geography, Queen's University

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/emilymajorforanimals

Member of New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies

Roots & Shoots Coordinator Canterbury, Jane Goodall Institute

Member of Australasian Animal Studies Association

Email: emily.major@pg.canterbury.ac.nz

Emily's completed thesis can be accessed via UC's research repository: 'Possums are as kiwi as fish and chips' : possum advocacy and the potential for compassionate conservation in Aotearoa New Zealand 

Cathy McCarthy

I grew up in Christchurch in a household where our many pets were always central to our family. As a kid I was absolutely obsessed with animals, particularly dogs, to the point where during every parent-teacher interview at primary and intermediate school I would be told to broaden my reading and writing beyond animals. 

Throughout my time at UC, I’ve developed an interest in social justice. In particular, I’m very passionate about gender studies. Many of the courses and assignments during my BA in English and Masters of Writing have reflected this interest. Last year I took a human-animal studies course and thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided that this was what I wanted to do my dissertation on this year. It felt like a full circle back to the days when I would be told to write about anything other than animals.

I decided to combine my interest in gender studies with my newfound interest in critical animal studies by doing an intersectional analysis. So, my dissertation this year will be an intersectional analysis of the dairy industry through the lens of feminism and critical animal studies. I will be discussing topics, such as the sexual violence of artificial insemination, the separation of calves from their mothers and the gendered commodification of veal production.

Roshanah Masilamani

A current Masters student at UC, I am deeply passionate about academia and education and intend to pursue my PhD in 2022. Although based within literary studies, my work overlaps with critical human-animal studies as I am interested in the position of nonhuman others within society, exploring how literature can both uphold and subvert anthropocentric readings of these beings. Specifically, my research seeks to examine how humanity has been socially constructed according to dominant Western dualisms and in opposition to the ‘other’, through a literary analysis of Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus (1984), Marge Piercy’s Body of Glass (1991), and Michel Faber’s Under the Skin (2000). My thesis centres women, animals, and cyborgs as ‘others’ within society, and I consider the way in which hybridity complicates binary constructions of human and nonhuman animals. Within this, I draw on class politics, posthumanism, and intersectional theory in order to illustrate how the construction of ‘humanity’ has widespread implications for those who fall outside, or between, the binary. Ultimately, I propose that humanity can be constituted as a performance, expanding on Judith Butler’s theory on gender performativity.

Roshanah's completed Master's thesis can be accessed via the UC research repository: Women, animals, and cyborgs : challenges to western humanist constructions of the human in selected contemporary literature/

Samantha White

Inspired by my own personal transformation to a plant-based diet, I am passionate about communicating the increasing importance and positive externalities of sustainable foods. As a consumer and market researcher, my work focusses on discovering market based strategies to reduce the adverse impacts of our diets and consumption behaviour on the planet and its inhabitants. My current research addresses the consumer behaviour surrounding meat avoidance, reduction and substitution with commercially available alternative products, or ‘meat substitutes’. Specifically, I am exploring consumer attitudes, motivations and deterrents for the consumption of meat substitutes with the intention of determining effective persuasion and promotional techniques to facilitate behavioural change towards meat substitution and reduction. I aim to advance the sustainable food sector by providing research-based insight to position industry players to take advantage of increasing market opportunities in this area. I am currently pursuing my PhD in Marketing at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. I also hold both a bachelor and master’s degree with honours in marketing and consumer behaviour.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/samanthakarenwhite/

Website: www.samantha-white.com

Email: samantha.white@canterbury.ac.nz

Sam's completed PhD thesis can be accessed via the UC research repository: Plant-based meat substitutes : understanding consumers’ motivators, barriers, knowledge and consumption practices.

Cressida Wilson

My research is influenced by my interest in feminism, animal advocacy, and other forms of social justice activism. My aim is to highlight the experiences of women and non-binary animal advocates in Aotearoa.

Cressida's completed PhD thesis is accessible through the UC research repository: "Kind to all kinds, respect all beings" : an exploration of the gendered experiences of women animal advocates in Aotearoa New Zealand .