The Jameel Library Reading Groups return this autumn season with Multispecies Cities. In this series, participants read and discuss literature, articles and various other media that explore the relationships between people, animals and other living beings in an urban environment. The series is led in English by Dr. Neha Vora.

The first session will address the topic of stray animals. Participants read from Istanbul’s intangible cultural heritage as embodied by street animals by Kimberly Hart, The Cats of Gaza or Why Nakba is a Multispecies Catastrophe by Neha Vora and view the film “Stray” by Elizabeth Lo. The reading materials and discussion cover themes such as stray animals, cultural heritage, animal care, street life, human-nonhuman kinship, and displacement.

Reading groups are free and open to all. Registration is required, as space is limited. Registered participants are expected to commit to all the sessions and reading material, to attend the session they have registered for, and to support a respectful, informed and open discursive environment.

Please register via the RSVP link.

Dr. Neha Vora is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of International Studies at the American University of Sharjah. She pursues interdisciplinary research in themes such as diasporas and migration, citizenship, globalised higher education, gender, and human-nonhuman encounters. Her books include Impossible Citizens: Dubai’s Indian Diaspora (Duke, 2013) and Teach for Arabia: American Universities, Liberalism, and Transnational Qatar (Stanford, 2018).