About the event
We have been domesticating animals for over ten thousand years. Why do we want tame wolves in our homes, subdued wild cats on our laps and snakes draped like scarves around our necks? Pets feature in art, poetry and some of our most popular stories.
All of these feature in the Bodleian Libraries' new exhibition, Pets & their People. Taking bearings from every era of human history, it asks how the special bond between owners and their pets has evolved, and what that evolution tells us about our own changing identity.
Bestselling author and curator Charles Foster provides a guided tour of this extraordinary exhibition as he explores the fascinating relationship between humans and their pets.
Speaker
Charles Foster is a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. His previous books include Being a Beast (2017), The Screaming Sky (2021) and Cry of the Wild: Eight Animals Under Siege (2023). His new book, Pets & their People, has been published by Bodleian Library Publishing.
Acknowledgements
Pets & their People is made possible with generous support from the John S Cohen Foundation.
Event information
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