Catty settlers: Zoei Sutton, Kate Hall, ‘”Feral Catastrophe”: Analysing the Narrative Construction of Australian Cats’, in Georgina Endfield, Poul Holm (eds), Oxford Intersections: Environmental Change and Human Experience, Oxford, 2026 | settler colonial studies blog

Catty settlers: Zoei Sutton, Kate Hall, ‘”Feral Catastrophe”: Analysing the Narrative Construction of Australian Cats’, in Georgina Endfield, Poul Holm (eds), Oxford Intersections: Environmental Change and Human Experience, Oxford, 2026

23Jun26

Abstract: Feral, pest, savage, invaders: cats have long been painted as the villains in Australian histories, continuing to wreak havoc on biodiversity and the welfare of prized ‘native’ species. But where do these ideas come from? Could it be that selective ecological narratives have presented a simplistic account of feline pasts and presents, obfuscating the complex human–animal–environment entanglements that actually exist? This chapter critically explores human–cat relations in Australia, drawing a multidisciplinary approach to explore themes of anthroparchy, dis/utility, settler colonialism, and extinction. Existing narratives from scientific, popular cultural, and governance discourses will be analysed using a social constructivist lens, with key themes brought to life in feline-centric vignettes to demonstrate alternative constructions of cats as minded, emotional, oppressed, and capable of coexistence with humans and other animals. This unique methodological approach effectively foregrounds non-human animals in the narratives that often cause them to become invisible them, offering a rich and multifaceted contribution to the representation of non-human animals. This multidisciplinary method allows us to imagine a future where cats have been freed from the narratives which trap and cast them as villains, and present socio-scientifically supported possibilities through which this might be achieved.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed