As part of our efforts to reach students with an interest in Human-Animal Studies, the Animals and Society Institute has created Sloth, a journal for undergraduate students and recent graduates to publish their scholarly studies, book and film reviews, or artistic products that increase our understanding of or raise awareness of issues involving human/nonhuman animal relationships. The journal is continuing publication after a hiatus that began in 2021.
Sloth is an online peer-reviewed, open access, academic journal that publishes international, multi-disciplinary work by undergraduate students (scholars within three years of undergraduate degree). Masters and early-stage Ph.D. students also welcome. Contributions can explore anything in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, or fine arts that is related to human/nonhuman animal relationships.
Sloth takes its name from arboreal animals native to Central and South America known for their relatively slow, careful movements. Because of their unhurried nature, sloths are often stereotyped as dull-witted, sluggish, and lazy. Yet the deliberate movements of sloths are a beneficial adaptation. By conserving energy, sloths have survived while other animals have gone extinct. A salute to these and other misunderstood creatures, Sloth encourages our contributors to think and write purposefully about the animals–individuals and species–with whom we share this planet and to engage critically and creatively with more-than-human ways of being in the world.