Animal Edutainment in a Neoliberal Era : Politics, Pedagogy, and Practice in the Contemporary Aquarium

Animal Edutainment in a Neoliberal Era is a rich and beautifully written multispecies ethnographic monograph that explores pedagogy and practice at a Southern California aquarium housing and displaying over 10,000 animals. Drawing on extensive interviews with aquarium staff and visitors, as well as fieldwork interacting with and observing human-animal interactions, the book demonstrates the complex ways in which aquarium animals are politically deployed in teaching and learning processes. Weaving together insights from anthropology, critical geography, environmental education, and political ecology, Teresa Lloro crafts a three-pronged "political ecology of education lens," illuminating how neoliberal ideologies interact at various scales (local, regional, national, and global) to deeply shape aquarium decision-making and practice. Acknowledging that neoliberalism enrolls humans and other animals in teaching and learning in new and often poorly understood ways, this study challenges the anthropocentrism of contemporary informal educational approaches, suggesting that imaginative ways forward will require a paradigm shift in regarding the role of animals in education. "Animal Edutainment in a Neoliberal Era is a rich and beautifully written multispecies ethnographic monograph that explores pedagogy and practice at a Southern California aquarium housing and displaying over 10,000 animals. Drawing on extensive interviews with aquarium staff and visitors, as well as fieldwork interacting with and observing human-animal interactions, the book demonstrates the complex ways in which aquarium animals are politically deployed in teaching and learning processes. Weaving together insights from anthropology, critical geography, environmental education, and political ecology, Lloro-Bidart crafts a three-pronged "political ecology of education lens," illuminating how neoliberal ideologies interact at various scales (local, regional, national, and global) to deeply shape aquarium decision-making and practice. Acknowledging that neoliberalism enrolls humans and other animals in teaching and learning in new and often poorly understood ways, this study challenges the anthropocentrism of contemporary informal educational approaches, suggesting that imaginative ways forward will require a paradigm shift in regarding the role of animals in education"-- Provided by publisher "Teresa Lloro's new book, Animal Edutainment in a Neoliberal Era, is a welcome and needed addition to the works on the uses of animals in two spheres: entertainment and education. Drawing on the author's ethnographic work among the people and animals who interact at a public aquarium, Animal Edutainment in a Neoliberal Era uncovers a number of uncomfortable truths inherent in our use of animals, and suggests some new ways in which we might move forward."--Margo De Mello, Human-Animal Studies Program Director, Animals & Society Institute Cover Contents List of Illustrations Foreword by Lori Gruen Acknowledgements Chapter One: Introduction Chapter Two: The Making of a Regional Edutainment Venue Chapter Three: Neoliberal Subjectivities and the Pedagogy of “Sustainable Seafood” Chapter Four: Bird Biopower in Lorikeet Forest Chapter Five: The Disembodied Shark Chapter Six: Affective Labor in the Lorikeet Forest Chapter Seven: A Watershed Moment for Zoos and Aquariums? Exploring Feminist Posthumanist Theories and Pedagogies Author Index Subject Index