Australasian Animal Studies Association

The Australasian Animal Studies Association (AASA) is an Australian association of animal studies scholars, scientists, creative artists, and animal advocates.^[1] The association was founded by Siobhan O’Sullivan, a professor from the School of Social Sciences of the University of New South Wales (UNSW).^[2]

The association started publishing in 2008 the AASA News Bulletin as a quarterly electronic publication. The publication is presently the publication Animail.^[3] The online scholarly publication for human-animal studies for the association is the Animal Studies Journal.^[4]

The association also hosts a variety of conferences on animal studies. The 2023 conference was titled Animal Cultures and discussed the "emerging scientific and philosophical considerations of culture in non-human animal communities".^[5] As part of its efforts to support creative artists in the realm of animal studies, the association maintains an online art gallery.^[6] The association also hosts the Val Plumwood Lecture Series.^[7] Starting in 2021, the association began awarding the AASA Animal Studies Awards.^[2]

The Animal Studies Journal works closely with the AASA. The journal is published twice a year and is a forum for research in topic of human-animal studies.  The journal is cross-disciplinary in the content that it publishes. It has a particular, but not exclusive, interest in Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific scholarship.^[8] The chief editor for the journal is Dr. Melissa Boyde of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia.^[9]

The AASA hosts the Val Plumwood Lecture Series. Val Plumwood was an Australian environmental philosopher.^[10] The 2024 lecture was titled "Social Lives of Animals: Domination, Intersectionality, and Heterotopia".^[11]

The following awards are awarded by the association:^[2]

• The AASA Journal Article Prize: A prize for excellence in the work of early-career researchers. The inaugural prize in 2021 was awarded to Dr. Brodie Evans, a visiting fellow at the Centre of Justice at Queensland University of Technology. His article was Contesting and reinforcing the future of ‘meat’ through problematization: Analyzing the discourses in regulatory debates around animal cell-cultured meat, which was co-authored with Dr. Hope Johnson. It was published in 2021 in the journal Geoforum.^[12][13]
• The AASA Popular Communication of Animal Studies Prize: A prize for "increasing public awareness of the field and its value to human-animal relations". The inaugural prize in 2021 was awarded to Claudia Hirtenfelder, who hosts The Animal Turn Podcast. The podcast addresses the new focus on animals in modern times.^[14]

The theme of the 2023 conference was 'Animal Cultures'. The keynote speaker for the conference was U.S. author Carol Gigliotti with Why knowledge of animal cultures is critical.^[15][16]

The gallery features the following artists:^[17]

• Evelyn Kolijn: A printmaker and installation artist from Calgary, Canada.^[18]
• Dr. Debbie Symons: A multi-disciplinary artist who uses drawing, video, and installation to communicate central themes.^[19]
• Sue Kalab: An artist known for her depictions of the fauna, flora, and landscapes of Western Australia.^[20]
• Linda Brant: A visual artist and clinical psychologist based in Orlando, Florida with a private practice and a part-time teaching position at Ringling College of Art and Design and Saybrook University.^[21]
• Claude Jones: An Australian artist and ceramicist.^[22]
• Bonita Alice: An artist from South Africa, with a focus with psychological matters and our relationship with other animals.^[23]
• Iris Bergmann: Originally from Iceland, an artist inspired by nature's untamed beauty.^[24][25]
• Trace Johansson: Trace Johansson is an artist who has created works in animal-human art.^[26][27]

• Australasian Animal Studies Association
• AASA Art Gallery