Carnival - How We Use Animals to Celebrate Ourselves

A raucous entry into animal festivals across America uncovers how humans triangulate who we are and what makes us special through the symbolism we attach to animals and the stories we use to rise above them.

As the gates open at the racetrack in Virginia City, Nevada, three camels stumble out, ridden by amateur jockeys. A crowd of roaring spectators looks on gleefully, but as the camels approach the first turn, one loses its footing and crashes to the ground. While the camel's handlers rush to calm the animal, the race's emcee calls out in defense of the jockey. "Check on Charlie!" he cries. "Forget the camel!"

The International Camel and Ostrich Races is just one of hundreds of animal festivals that take place around the world every year, each putting animals on display for humans to gawk at, demonize, or adore. But why? What value do these festivals and their rituals hold, and why when the animals are in distress do we insist that the show still must go on?

In Forget the Camel animal advocate and lawyer Elizabeth MeLampy meets the groundhogs, butterflies, rattlesnakes, lobsters, sled dogs, and other creatures we use to build community, instill fear, and transmit meaning. She shows how killing rattlesnakes in Texas represents a triumph over the Wild West; how massive lobster boils on Maine's Atlantic coast show solidarity with the working class; and how the celebration each February of a single groundhog reminds us of our reliance on nature. In the process, she presents a deft blend of reportage and personal narrative that raises profound questions about our human impulse to dominate and differentiate ourselves.

Certain to be appreciated by fans of Yuval Noah Harari, Mary Roach, and Sy Montgomery, Forget the Camel is an immersive entry into the sights, smells, tastes, and noise of animal festivals across the country, and a much-needed call for a kinder future.

Sommario

Preface

Introduction

Part I: Dominance

Chapter 1: Rattlesnake Roundup

Chapter 2: The Maine Lobster Festival

Part II: Humor

Chapter 3: The International Camel and Ostrich Races

Chapter 4: Jumping Frog Jubilee

Part III: Reverence

Chapter 5: Groundhog Day

Chapter 6: Butterfly Days

Conclusion

Appendix: More Animal Festivals

Select Photographs

Notes and References

Info autore

Elizabeth MeLampy is a lawyer whose work focuses on animal rights and protection. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, she was named an Emerging Scholar Fellow by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy in 2020 and received an award for her work with Harvard Law's Animal Law & Policy Program in 2021. She clerked for judges in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Federal District Court in Arizona and litigated with the Natural Resources Defense Council. She currently lives in Boston, MA.

Riassunto

An immersive entry into animal festivals nationwide explores how we invoke symbolism to tell stories about animals and what stories we tell about ourselves in the process.

What makes a human different than an animal? Humans triangulate who we are—and what makes us special—through our relationship with animals. Throughout history, and today at hundreds of animal festivals around the world every year, humans have put members of the animal kingdom on display to gawk at, demonize, or adore. But why? What value do these carnivals and their rituals hold, and why when the animals are in distress do we insist so intently that the show still must go on?

In Carnival: How We Use Animals to Celebrate Ourselves, esteemed animal welfare lawyer Elizabeth MeLampy attends eight quintessential animal festivals and meets the groundhogs, butterflies, rattlesnakes, lobsters, sled dogs, and other creatures we use to build community, cause fear, and transmit meaning. She shows how profoundly symbolism affects the way we interact with animals and explores what that says about us. In the process she raises the profound questions of why our human impulse is to dominate, and if in today’s enlightened age we might finally find the compassion to craft a new path, one that frees animals from suffering for the sake of telling our stories.

A deft blend of reportage and personal narrative, Carnival is the first book to truly examine animal festivals, and is certain to be appreciated by fans of Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens or James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small. At once a raucous, immersive entry into the sights, smells, tastes, and noise of animals festivals around the country, it is also a much-needed call for a kinder future.

Prefazione

Mainstream media targets will include print, digital, TV, radio, and podcast media, both general interest and media that covers animals. Outlets to include the likes of the New York Times, Time magazine, Nature, National Geographic, Atlas Obscura, Animal Wellness, One Green Planet, The Dodo, and Strange Animals podcast, as well as national television programming like GMA and Today.

Regional media targets will include outlets in the author’s hometown of Washington, DC, as well as the towns and regions visited in the book. Such outlets will include the Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Portland Press Herald, The Maine Monitor, The Courier-Gazette, The Free Press, San Antonio Living, The Freer Press, The Corpus Christie Caller-Times, The Modesto Bee, The Sacramento Bee, The Punxsutawney Spirit, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Anchorage Daily News, The Anchorage Press, and The Reno Gazette-Journal, as well as television and radio stations like Fox 5 DC, NBC4 Washington, and ABC10.

Trade media targets: The author is an excellent writer and the book is compelling narrative nonfiction on a topic widely covered by the trades. ARCs of the book will be pitched for coverage by Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Shelf Awareness.

Author with strong alumni networks: The author is a graduate of Harvard College (over 400,000 alumni) and Harvard Law School (over 40,000 alumni), as well as the Groton School and Alpha Phi International Fraternity (over 270,000 members and alumnae), and will pitch the book for inclusion in quarterly alumni publications and on alumni social media.

Promotional efforts through national and local animal welfare organizations: The author’s connections with PETA and the Humane Society of the United States, as well as the Center for Biological Diversity, Advocates for Snake Preservation, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School, among others, will be leveraged for promotion through different outlets supported by those organizations.

Digital advertising with SEO keywords will reach readers interested in animal rights and welfare, fans of comp titles, as well as those pursuing more info on animals festivals.

Author appearances and talks around the country: The cross-country nature of the book makes this an ideal title to tie events to nationwide. The author will give talks on the book at the festivals and bookstores local to them, as well as at bookstores in Washington, DC, her hometown.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Elizabeth MeLampy
• Editore: Ingram Publishers Services
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 04.03.2025, ritardato
• EAN: 9781954641433
• ISBN: 978-1-954641-43-3
• Pagine: 264
• Categorie: Guide e manuali > Natura; Saggistica > Filosofia, religione > Filosofia: tematiche generali, opere di consultazione; Scienze sociali, diritto, economia > Diritto > Diritto pubblico, amministrativo, costituzionale; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Environmentalists & Naturalists, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Customs & Traditions, Ethics & moral philosophy, Animal law, Equestrian & animal sports, Animal spectacles, performing animals, Green politics / ecopolitics / environmentalism, PHILOSOPHY / Environmental, SPORTS & RECREATION / Animal Sports / General, LAW / Animal Law