Human Collaborators (Confirmed)

Jacquelyn Johnston

I am a Visiting Teaching Professor of Geography and Sociology at Florida International University whose interdisciplinary work bridges animal geography, urban studies, and the critical environmental humanities. My research examines the disconnect between urban animal–human encounter mitigation policy and practice, with particular attention to the problematic binaries of native/nonnative, domestic/wild, and the colonial rhetoric embedded within the concept of ferality. Building on prior work surrounding urban free-roaming cat politics and policy, I investigate how assumptions about “nonnative” or “invasive” animal killability are frequently extended to animals categorized as “native.” More broadly, I seek to connect academic scholarship with more humane and critically informed animal policy and public engagement. My previous research has been shared with Humane Society International India during policy review discussions related to the Animal Birth Control program and reviewed by researchers affiliated with New York University Abu Dhabi working on local policy implications.

• Johnston, J. J. (2026). Insignificant otherness: Manufacturing killability of native animals living in Florida's urban spaces. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 25148486261437568. 

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nc1b2u4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao 

Emily Major 

Emily Major is an early-career researcher whose work combines Critical Animal Studies, ecofeminist ethics of care, and intersectional anti-speciesist approaches with advocacy to promote empathy, compassion, and justice for nonhuman animals. She is developing the theory of Critical Pest Studies, an emerging subfield of Critical Animal Studies that examines the social, cultural, and political marginalization of species labelled as “pests,” “vermin,” or “invasive.”

While advocating for all animals, Emily's current research focuses on species that are particularly vilified and ostracized within society. Her work explores how fear, folklore, conservation narratives, and other cultural discourses shape human attitudes toward nonhuman animals, often legitimizing violence and exclusion. Her recent article, The Boogeymen of Our Forests: Anti-Possum Rhetoric and the Construction of Fear in Dominant Conservation Messaging in New Zealand, was published in Oxford Intersections. She is particularly interested in the intersections between human and animal oppression and the ways systems of domination reinforce one another.

Emily was recently awarded the 2026 Junior Fellowship at the Centre for Animal Ethics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Alongside her academic work, Emily is committed to public scholarship and community engagement through her advocacy blog, Framing Speciesism, where she explores issues of speciesism, animal justice, and emerging developments in Critical Animal Studies and Critical Pest Studies.

• Major, E. (2026). The Boogeymen of Our Forests: Anti-Possum Rhetoric and the Construction of Fear in Dominant Conservation Messaging in New Zealand.

• https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/62987/chapter-abstract/565529746?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Human Collaborators (Invited)

Himani Nautiyal

• India; Garhwal Himalayas, India; and beyond

• Primates, dogs, and more

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FODSxYgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao