Bonus Episode 47b
July 14, 2021
Daniel Heath Justice on Animals
Hosted by Chris Piuma and Suzanne Conklin Akbari with Daniel Heath Justice
Raccoons inhabit a world between. They have features that are very human: their little paws, their behaviour. But their eyes are the eyes of an animal, and they’re inscrutable. They sit up and look human with these animal faces. Their behaviour — they don’t run away in the same ways that other animals do from us. They’re drawn to novelty, rather than repelled by it. So in all of these different ways, they sit between categories of comfort for us. That’s what fascinates me, but I think that’s partly what puts in some danger with a lot of humans.
Daniel Heath Justice is a Colorado-born citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia. His published work is largely in the areas of Indigenous literary studies, Indigenous Studies, and animal cultural history, including the recent Why Indigenous Literatures Matter and Raccoon, and, with co-editor Jean M. O’Brien (White Earth Ojibwe), the forthcoming Allotment Stories: Indigenous Land Relations under Settler Siege.
To round off their Animal cluster, Suzanne and Chris talk with Daniel about raccoons, badgers, and other animals, both in the real world and in literature.
![[Episode artwork]](/images/podcast/art/s/spouter.png)
Show Notes.
Some of Daniel’s books: Raccoon; Badger; Why Indigenous Literatures Matter.
Reaktion Books’ Animal series.
Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows.
L. Frank Baum: The Wizard of Oz books.
Our episodes on Charlotte’s Web and The Fellowship of the Ring.
Megaphonic’s Lord of the Rings podcast, By-The-Bywater, will be talking about eagles in their next episode.
Bartholomeus Anglicus: De proprietatibus rerum. (The section on the badger.)
Rachel Poliquin: Beaver.
An article from The Star about Toronto’s raccoons and green bins.