Animals appear in many guises in Charles Dickens’s novels, as wild animals, domestic animals, animals used in the service of humans, and, not least, as images and symbols. Based on a close reading of all of Dickens’s major novels, this thesis centres on the symbolic use of (both metaphorical and actual) animals in the depiction of human characters, the chief aim being to explore a phenomenon that Dickens frequently resorts to, namely, the animalisation of human characters. Certain Dickensian characters are in fact more or less consistently compared to animals – to animals in general, or to specific animals. On occasion, not only individual characters but also groups of characters are animalised, and sometimes to the point of dehumanisation. By and large, being animalised equals being portrayed in a negative light, as if what Dickens himself at one point termed “the divine spark” – the special light accorded to the human brain as opposed to the animal brain – has been extinguished or has at least become almost imperceptible. Furthermore, in conjunction with the investigation of Dickens’s animalisation of human characters, the thesis discusses his implicit attitude to the human-animal divide and argues that, though largely anthropocentric and hierarchical, it also points to a view of human and nonhuman animals as part of a continuum, with no fixed boundaries. A number of different approaches inform the discussion, but theoretical frameworks such as ecocriticism and, above all, contemporary theory on the significance of Darwin’s ideas in the Victorian era, are foregrounded.

Genom tiderna har det funnits ett särskilt band mellan människan och sällskapsdjuret. Forskning tyder på att denna relation bär med sig åtskilliga fördelar för människan. I den här studien undersöks vad hästen och hunden upplevs ha för inverkan på människan. I studien intervjuades 15 kvinnor som har djurrelaterade yrken. Nio beskrev hundens inverkan och sex beskrev hästens. Materialet komprimerades tills fem typer av inverkan framträdde: att människan (1) får en nära vän, (2) får välbefinnande, (3) får kraft, (4) utvecklar empati och (5) utvecklar ansvar. Skillnader som förekom var att hästberättelser fokuserade på gemenskap med andra människor i stallet och hundberättelser på sällskap från hunden. I berättelserna framkom även negativa teman som författarna har valt att bortse från och istället fokuserat på det positiva. Studien kan indikera att hundar och hästar kan komplettera varandra då de har olika syften i människans liv.

With a particular interest in birdwatchers and dog walkers, this case study explored place meanings of users at Westmount Summit Woods, a multiple-use urban forest located just west of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A document analysis was conducted on the research site, followed by data collected through online questionnaire. A total of 120 users participated in the online questionnaire, of which included birdwatchers (n=44), dog walkers (n=61), and the broader community (n=15). Three themes relating to place meaning were interpreted: (1) Attachment to and Preference for; (2) (Re)connection with Self and Others; and (3) Conflict Between and Within. Findings suggest encounters played key roles in the formation of social identity, capital, and conflict. Questions regarding access to and use of public space, how humans and animals are placed vis-à-vis one another, and ways to build civic culture out of difference were addressed. Following on from these findings, recommendations for outdoor recreation management and future research were offered.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves 296-314. / Photocopy. / Microfilm. / xii, 314 leaves, bound 29 cm

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-126). / vi, 126 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / A fundamental concern of human-animal studies is the human-animal boundary. The rider-horse relationship challenges this boundary through a degree of intercorporeality that is symbolised by the centaur. The centaur is transformative and generative; it is part-horse, part-human but more than horse-plus-human. This dissertation employs the centaur metaphor together with embodied theories of human-animal relations to explore the intercorporeality of humans and animals, and the permeability of the human-animal boundary. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284053 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2007

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / A fundamental concern of human-animal studies is the human-animal boundary. The rider-horse relationship challenges this boundary through a degree of intercorporeality that is symbolised by the centaur. The centaur is transformative and generative; it is part-horse, part-human but more than horse-plus-human. This dissertation employs the centaur metaphor together with embodied theories of human-animal relations to explore the intercorporeality of humans and animals, and the permeability of the human-animal boundary. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284053 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2007

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leave 209-233). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-98).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Edith Cowan University, 2006. / Submitted to the Faculty of Regional Professional Studies. Includes bibliographical references.