As an avid animal lover, I decided to take field notes while attending a pet show. On April 25, 2014 I went to the world’s largest pet expo and the OC Fairgrounds which featured all types of products and animals including dogs, birds, reptiles, fish, farm animals and cats. The main event that I intended to observe was the international cat show in which my mom, Diane, had entered our Toyger cat (Tango) in to compete. I do acknowledge that this gave me insider access as a co-exhibitor with my mom. However, this was the first cat show that I had physically been to myself while my mother and the cat have attended several shows before this that I had heard about.
Within the cat show itself, I was interested in the power relationships between humans and animals. On the mico-level, I observed the interactions that visitors, exhibitors and judges had with the cats and recorded sensory observations between 12:18pm and 1:46pm.
The use of tools and technology were present in most interactions that humans had with the cats. It was interesting to see how human used these tools to control the animal’s behavior, action and desired appearance. Observing the use of the tools also opened my eyes to greater connections within the human/animal binary.
I sat in a chair in front of where Tango’s exhibit was set up which gave me a good view of our neighboring cats. To the right of our cage was a large setup of the “American Bob Cat” complete with a 4 foot educational poster atop the cage. Page one of my field notes depicts a sketch of what the cage looked like and my proximity to the bobcats and women exhibitors.
Around 1pm I was observing visitors interact with the cats and exhibitors around me when I heard the male announcer over there loud speaker say, “ Cat 127 is needed in ring 6, cat 127 please come to ring 6.” At this point the Bobcat lady to my left frantically got up as she realized cat 127 was hers. This lady had short grey hair and glasses and was wearing a black shirt that said “bow wow” and black pants. She was thin with a slightly hunched over stance eluding that she was older in age. She stool up from the chair and proceeded to pull the bob cat out of the cage with one hand and pick up a grooming bag with the other. She placed the cat on the small table that was unfolded in front of her station and it sat there for a few seconds as she rummaged through her bag. The first item that she pulled out from the bag was a Q-tip which she used to clean out the gunk in the eyes of her cat. Her left had held the head of the cat still as she poked and prodded the cat’s eyes to her liking. The cat responded by wiggling it’s tail but did not try to escape or pull away from the lady’s hand or tool. After finishing with the Q-tip, the lady pulled a brush out of her bad and began fluffing the hair around the cat’s face and tail. Again, the cat did not even flinch when the brush went near the animal. At this point the lady was really close to the cat and hunched over with only a few inches separating her face and the cat. I then noticed a tissue paper-like collar around the cat’s neck that was keeping its hair from “unfluffing”. This tool did not seem to bother the cat either as the cat did not try to rip the collar off or respond angrily. The lady pulled the tissue collar off and reached back into her bag one more time. She pulled out a bottle of baby powder and I honestly had no idea what she was going to use this for. Her left hand grabbed the cat’s tail and lifted it up and she used her right hand to squirt the baby powder onto the cat’s butt. A large cloud of powder dispersed into the air and the aroma of the cat show turned form smelling like a litter box to a baby’s nursery. Once again, the cat did not mind having powder thrown all over it and complied with the tools and human direction it was given.
Within this context the lady (human) had control and power over the cat (animal). She exerted this power through the help of tools to groom and prep the cat the way that she wanted. The cat did not retaliate but instead complied with what the lady wanted the cat to do and how the lady wanted the cat to respond to the tools. These observations have reinforced the power relationship of human over animal. I have concluded that animals learn to behave in the ways that people want them to behave.
Further analysis of my field notes and observations have brought me to think about topics that we discussed in class during the first few weeks of lecture. In, “A Cyborg Manifesto” Donna Haraway discusses anthropomorphism in which human form or attributes are ascribed to something non-human. While observing the lady, I could not help but attribute grooming her cat to that of taking care of a baby. The same human tools that would be used to take care of a baby were used when addressing the cat. Both baby and the cat had the same smell of “baby powder” and the helpless reaction that the cat had to the lady’s actions were similar to those of a baby. To further solidify my connection, continued observation revealed the lady feeding her cat literal baby food with a spoon through the cage.
Within the cat show itself, I was interested in the power relationships between humans and animals. On the mico-level, I observed the interactions that visitors, exhibitors and judges had with the cats and recorded sensory observations between 12:18pm and 1:46pm.
The use of tools and technology were present in most interactions that humans had with the cats. It was interesting to see how human used these tools to control the animal’s behavior, action and desired appearance. Observing the use of the tools also opened my eyes to greater connections within the human/animal binary.
I sat in a chair in front of where Tango’s exhibit was set up which gave me a good view of our neighboring cats. To the right of our cage was a large setup of the “American Bob Cat” complete with a 4 foot educational poster atop the cage. Page one of my field notes depicts a sketch of what the cage looked like and my proximity to the bobcats and women exhibitors.
Around 1pm I was observing visitors interact with the cats and exhibitors around me when I heard the male announcer over there loud speaker say, “ Cat 127 is needed in ring 6, cat 127 please come to ring 6.” At this point the Bobcat lady to my left frantically got up as she realized cat 127 was hers. This lady had short grey hair and glasses and was wearing a black shirt that said “bow wow” and black pants. She was thin with a slightly hunched over stance eluding that she was older in age. She stool up from the chair and proceeded to pull the bob cat out of the cage with one hand and pick up a grooming bag with the other. She placed the cat on the small table that was unfolded in front of her station and it sat there for a few seconds as she rummaged through her bag. The first item that she pulled out from the bag was a Q-tip which she used to clean out the gunk in the eyes of her cat. Her left had held the head of the cat still as she poked and prodded the cat’s eyes to her liking. The cat responded by wiggling it’s tail but did not try to escape or pull away from the lady’s hand or tool. After finishing with the Q-tip, the lady pulled a brush out of her bad and began fluffing the hair around the cat’s face and tail. Again, the cat did not even flinch when the brush went near the animal. At this point the lady was really close to the cat and hunched over with only a few inches separating her face and the cat. I then noticed a tissue paper-like collar around the cat’s neck that was keeping its hair from “unfluffing”. This tool did not seem to bother the cat either as the cat did not try to rip the collar off or respond angrily. The lady pulled the tissue collar off and reached back into her bag one more time. She pulled out a bottle of baby powder and I honestly had no idea what she was going to use this for. Her left hand grabbed the cat’s tail and lifted it up and she used her right hand to squirt the baby powder onto the cat’s butt. A large cloud of powder dispersed into the air and the aroma of the cat show turned form smelling like a litter box to a baby’s nursery. Once again, the cat did not mind having powder thrown all over it and complied with the tools and human direction it was given.
Within this context the lady (human) had control and power over the cat (animal). She exerted this power through the help of tools to groom and prep the cat the way that she wanted. The cat did not retaliate but instead complied with what the lady wanted the cat to do and how the lady wanted the cat to respond to the tools. These observations have reinforced the power relationship of human over animal. I have concluded that animals learn to behave in the ways that people want them to behave.
Further analysis of my field notes and observations have brought me to think about topics that we discussed in class during the first few weeks of lecture. In, “A Cyborg Manifesto” Donna Haraway discusses anthropomorphism in which human form or attributes are ascribed to something non-human. While observing the lady, I could not help but attribute grooming her cat to that of taking care of a baby. The same human tools that would be used to take care of a baby were used when addressing the cat. Both baby and the cat had the same smell of “baby powder” and the helpless reaction that the cat had to the lady’s actions were similar to those of a baby. To further solidify my connection, continued observation revealed the lady feeding her cat literal baby food with a spoon through the cage.
I like the way that you view the cat show as a technoscientific space in which the grooming tools serve as disciplining instruments. It's an interesting subject that gets your readers to think about technology broadly.
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