Author: Dominik Ohrem File Type: pdf In American history, animals are everywhere. They are a ubiquitous presence in myriad historical, literary, biographical, scientific and other documents and narratives of the American past - a past that, just like the present, was characterized by a multiplicity of relations between humans and other animals, ranging from intimate co-existence to outright violence. While such quintessentially American species as the bison, mustang or grizzly continue to roam the discursive, imaginary and, now to a much lesser degree, the geographical spaces of the nation, the less formidable creatures of civilization have been of even more vital importance to the genesis of modern American society and culture the many domesticated animals whose labor and bodies sustained and continue to sustain American society the selection of species that became the focus of American pet culture, particularly in the context of middle-class conceptions of family life and domesticity. And yet, it is precisely their ubiquity in the past and present of American culture which underlines all the more forcefully their at best shadowy presence in traditional strands of American historiography. In contrast, American Beasts begins with a declaration of interdependence the idea that any clear-cut separation of human and animal worlds obfuscates, rather than enhances, our understanding of the American (and, for that matter, any other) past. American Beasts explores different aspects of human-animal relations and their transformation between the early national period and the end of the Progressive Era in the 1920s from the rise of pet-keeping in the U.S. and the importance of animal labor in American cities to the role of animals and animality during slavery and westward expansion. Taken together, the contributions in this volume show not only to what extent American history can and must be understood with regard to the multifaceted and often problematic or ambivalent relationalities between humans and animals, but also how a stronger concern with animality allows us to highlight the complex intersections of the history of human-animal relations with American histories of, for instance, race, gender and sexuality. [Subject Sociology, History, American Studies] **

Author: Stephen Farina File Type: pdf In this engaging hybrid work--a blend of oral history and graphic novel--Stephen Farina finds Juma Sultan in a local phonebook. After an initial meeting at a roadside diner, Juma takes Steve and a fellow researcher to a decrepit barn, which, amazingly, contains a treasure trove of reel-to-reel audio tapes and 16mm films of jam sessions and jazz performances from the 1960s and 1970s. As the men go through the boxes and begin the painstaking process of preservation, Juma recalls the players, places, and time period when free jazz exploded then fused with the political momentum of the Civil Rights era. This true story documents The Aboriginal Music Society Archival Project, which was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Available exclusively as an e-publication, Reel Historys expressive and glowing black-and-white illustrations are augmented by audio clips and haunting silent video from Juma Sultans unique archive. This is an invaluable history for jazz historians and readers in the digital age. **