Expos 20 | Animals & Politics

KEY NEWS DATABASES FROM THE HL

Factiva  HARVARD KEY

A large collection of national and international news, drawn from newspapers, news sites, broadcast transcripts, some magazines, and more. Its major competitor is Nexis Uni (described below). Some publications are available as far back as the late 1960s, but a good rule of thumb is to expect access from 1980 forward.

Nexis Uni   HARVARD KEY

A hub for full-text access to U.S. and world newspaper, news magazines, and newswires. 

Earliest dates of coverage vary by title but a good rule of thumb is to consider it for topics in the news from the 1980s forward. Nexis Uni is also good for searching  transcripts of major TV  and radio news broadcasts (including BBC and NPR). 

OTHER NEWS COLLECTIONS and SITES TO CONSIDER

Alt-Press Watch  HARVARD KEY

"Alternative"  and "independent" news dailies, weeklies, and magazines offer different perspectives on US government, policy, and culture, and international issues than mainstream media sources do, which makes them valuable when you're canvassing widely for a topic or for looking for stakeholder opinions across the ideological and disciplinary spectrums.

The Conversation (U.S.)

The Conversation, which launched in Australia in 2011 and in the U.S. in 2014, arose out of "deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse – and recognition of the vital role that academic experts can play in the public arena."

Editors pay close attention to the news environment to identify the issues citizens are concerned about. They reach out to leading scholars across academia and work with them to unlock their knowledge for the broad public.

Importantly, The Conversation is committed to information transparency and credibility. Authors are only allowed to write on a subject on which they have proven expertise and they must sign a disclosure statement outlining any relevant funding or affiliations.

NYTimes Topics: Animal Abuse, Rights, and Welfare

Roundup of the newspaper's recent coverage; also keyword searchable.

• The Animal Turn (U of Michigan Press)
• Animalibus (Penn State U Press)
• Human Animal Studies (Brill)
• New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond (Purdue U Press)
• Palgrave Macmillan Animals Ethics Series (Palgrave Macmillan Press)

The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies  HARVARD KEY

"Handbooks" are a common academic genre and they exist to do particular kinds of knowledge work: they identify key ideas, synthesize what's considered "state of the art" thinking around a topic, and help you close a knowledge gap. 

The thirty chapters of this Handbook investigate issues and concepts central to understanding our current relationship with other animals and the potential for coexistence in an ecological community of living beings.  

Articles are grouped under five major categories: “Animals in the Landscape of Law, Politics, and Public Policy”; “Animal Intentionality, Agency, and Reflexive Thinking”; “Animals as Objects in Science, Food, Spectacle, and Sport”; “Animals in Cultural Representations”; and “Animals in Ecosystems.