Sonja Žakula
Biographic Data
| ID | 6481065 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonja Žakula |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonja |
| FAMILY NAME | Žakula |
| SIGNATURE | ŽAKULA S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institute of Ethnography SASA, Belgrade |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0174-6771 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The people’s pygmy princess and female rage: Memes featuring Moo-Deng
Born in summer 2024 at Khao Kheow open zoo in Thailand, Moo-Deng (eng. ?Bouncy pork?) is a female baby pygmy hippopotamus whose photographs and videos have become a viral sensation online. She was chosen by zoo staff to promote awareness of her endangered species, but images of Moo-Deng quickly went viral, and owing to her expressive facial features, took on a life of their own, becoming memes and (more importantly) being turned into fan art by p…
Human exceptionalism and the lot of animals: Telling stories about “human nature” in the anthropocene
This paper arose from a discussion of Maria Kronfeldner?s book What?s Left of Human Nature? In it, I am chiefly concerned with two things: the role that other animals are afforded in discussions about and attempts at defining ?human nature?, and a critique of the concept of nature that is utilized in the book. Furthermore, I view science as storytelling practice, and scholarly narratives about ?human nature? as important stories in order to pose …
The city as multispecies space: Dog walking in downtown Belgrade during the Covid-19 lockdown
This paper represents an autoethnographic account of dog walking in a residential area of downtown Belgrade during the COVID-19 lockdown of early 2020. It is also an attempt at, or rather, the result, of the largely experimental practice of canine-assisted ethnography, as my dogs Dita and Ripley were instrumental during fieldwork. The lockdown, with its ill-thought-out and constantly changing rules about dog walking underlined three basic issues:…
The motif of the “lost paradise” in blockbuster films set in the post-apocalypse
Considering that mythology and storytelling are an integral part of the human experience, in this paper we will take a look at contemporary iterations of certain archetypal myths. While the authors do not espouse the idea that ?science fiction is the mythology of modern society?, we believe that there is something to be said about popular culture as a medium of narrative transmission in post-industrialist society. In this sense, the paper analyse…
Human-Animal Relations at the Center of Attention: A Chance/Case Study of Serbia
In late 2018 and early 2019, the city of Belgrade was host to as many as four different exhibitions with the topic of human-animal relations. The fact that these exhibitions were held in such a short time in a city the size of Belgrade is in itself interesting, seeing as the topic of human-animal relations is still not part of the academic and artistic mainstream globally, let alone in Serbia. The themes and messages of these exhibitions seem eve…
Alien and Storytelling in the Anthropocene: Evolutionism, Creationism and Pseudoarchaeology in Science Fiction
This paper analyses the change in the metanarrative of the Alien franchise initiated by the movie Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and continued with a series of three sequels. The franchise was revived in 2012 with the prequel Prometheus. The story of the first four movies is set at the end of the anthropocene, and it deals with the horror of alien life forms, offering an evolutionist approach to the development of the human species. Howe…
The study of human-animal relations in anthropology and archaeology II
This paper represents the second of two planned articles in which we focus on the issue of the study of human-animal relations in ethnology and anthropology and archaeology. In the first paper (Žakula & Živaljević 2018), we mapped out the ways in which the issue of animals and their interrelations with humans was treated in our disciplines up untill, roughly, the 1980's. In this paper, we will present new research tendencies which developed since…
The study of human-animal relations in anthropology and archaeology (I)
This paper is the first of the two planned, in which we will focus on the approaches to the study of human-animal relations in ethnology and anthropology and archaeology. Even though interest in the role of animals in human societies is almost as old as the disciplines the authors of this paper come from, changes and turbulences that the social sciences and the humanities went through in the 1980’s meant that the old foundations on which this int…
Društveni obrasci prirodnih katastrofa: Slučaj Katrina
Public perception and imagination tend to view natural disasters and catastrophes as phenomena that impact everyone equally. However, they do not occur in a historical, political, economic or social vacuum. Every phase and aspect of a disaster - its causes, vulnerability, preparedness, aftermath, response, reconstruction, the scope of the disaster and the price paid in the end are, to a lesser or greater extent, socially conditioned. Natural disa…
Social patterns of natural disasters: The case of hurricane Katrina
Public perception and imagination tend to view natural disasters and catastrophes as phenomena that impact everyone equally. However, they do not occur in a historical, political, economic or social vacuum. Every phase and aspect of a disaster - its causes, vulnerability, preparedness, aftermath, response, reconstruction, the scope of the disaster and the price paid in the end are, to a lesser or greater extent, socially conditioned. Natural disa…
The animal body, violence and moral panic: The case of Mila the dog
In April of 2010 Serbia was rocked by the news that a dog whose paws had been cut off was found in the Medakovic neighborhood of Belgrade. Miraculously, the dog was still alive, but in bad condition. The news media named the dog Mila (which, aside from being a Serbian female name, can also mean “dear one” or “gentle one”) and the Serbian public followed the story of Mila’s plight and subsequent recovery with great interest and much comment, so mu…
The Narrativization of an Unusual Event at the Belgrade Zoo: A Semiotic Analysis of the Story of Gabi the Dog and the Jaguar
The paper offers a semiotic analysis of the narrative of Gabi the dog and the jaguar in the form in which the story appears on the website of the Belgrade zoo. I believe that it is valid to assume that an analysis of this narrative can provide a window into the ways in which meanings of concepts such as ‘wildness’, ‘domesticity’, ‘freedom’, ‘captivity’ and ultimately, ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ are articulated within the context of this institution. …
What Makes a Contemporary Werewolf? The Semiological Analysis of Articles about the “Werewolf of Tamnava County”
The paper offers a semiological analysis of narratives about the “werewolf of Tamnava County” which were published in Serbian daily newspapers in June 2005. I will attempt to show the ways in which the folk appropriation of terms from scientific discourse is used to lend legitimacy to stories about the mysterious pest, and how this kind of speech about werewolves is nothing new. Narratives about the “werewolf of Tamnava County” will be broken dow…
Human exceptionalism and the lot of animals: Telling stories about “human nature” in the anthropocene
This paper arose from a discussion of Maria Kronfeldner?s book What?s Left of Human Nature? In it, I am chiefly concerned with two things: the role that other animals are afforded in discussions about and attempts at defining ?human nature?, and a critique of the concept of nature that is utilized in the book. Furthermore, I view science as storytelling practice, and scholarly narratives about ?human nature? as important stories in order to pose …
What Makes a Contemporary Werewolf? The Semiological Analysis of Articles about the “Werewolf of Tamnava County”
The paper offers a semiological analysis of narratives about the “werewolf of Tamnava County” which were published in Serbian daily newspapers in June 2005. I will attempt to show the ways in which the folk appropriation of terms from scientific discourse is used to lend legitimacy to stories about the mysterious pest, and how this kind of speech about werewolves is nothing new. Narratives about the “werewolf of Tamnava County” will be broken dow…
The Narrativization of an Unusual Event at the Belgrade Zoo: A Semiotic Analysis of the Story of Gabi the Dog and the Jaguar
The paper offers a semiotic analysis of the narrative of Gabi the dog and the jaguar in the form in which the story appears on the website of the Belgrade zoo. I believe that it is valid to assume that an analysis of this narrative can provide a window into the ways in which meanings of concepts such as ‘wildness’, ‘domesticity’, ‘freedom’, ‘captivity’ and ultimately, ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ are articulated within the context of this institution. …
The animal body, violence and moral panic: The case of Mila the dog
In April of 2010 Serbia was rocked by the news that a dog whose paws had been cut off was found in the Medakovic neighborhood of Belgrade. Miraculously, the dog was still alive, but in bad condition. The news media named the dog Mila (which, aside from being a Serbian female name, can also mean “dear one” or “gentle one”) and the Serbian public followed the story of Mila’s plight and subsequent recovery with great interest and much comment, so mu…
Društveni obrasci prirodnih katastrofa: Slučaj Katrina
Public perception and imagination tend to view natural disasters and catastrophes as phenomena that impact everyone equally. However, they do not occur in a historical, political, economic or social vacuum. Every phase and aspect of a disaster - its causes, vulnerability, preparedness, aftermath, response, reconstruction, the scope of the disaster and the price paid in the end are, to a lesser or greater extent, socially conditioned. Natural disa…
Social patterns of natural disasters: The case of hurricane Katrina
Public perception and imagination tend to view natural disasters and catastrophes as phenomena that impact everyone equally. However, they do not occur in a historical, political, economic or social vacuum. Every phase and aspect of a disaster - its causes, vulnerability, preparedness, aftermath, response, reconstruction, the scope of the disaster and the price paid in the end are, to a lesser or greater extent, socially conditioned. Natural disa…
The study of human-animal relations in anthropology and archaeology (I)
This paper is the first of the two planned, in which we will focus on the approaches to the study of human-animal relations in ethnology and anthropology and archaeology. Even though interest in the role of animals in human societies is almost as old as the disciplines the authors of this paper come from, changes and turbulences that the social sciences and the humanities went through in the 1980’s meant that the old foundations on which this int…
The study of human-animal relations in anthropology and archaeology II
This paper represents the second of two planned articles in which we focus on the issue of the study of human-animal relations in ethnology and anthropology and archaeology. In the first paper (Žakula & Živaljević 2018), we mapped out the ways in which the issue of animals and their interrelations with humans was treated in our disciplines up untill, roughly, the 1980's. In this paper, we will present new research tendencies which developed since…
Human-Animal Relations at the Center of Attention: A Chance/Case Study of Serbia
In late 2018 and early 2019, the city of Belgrade was host to as many as four different exhibitions with the topic of human-animal relations. The fact that these exhibitions were held in such a short time in a city the size of Belgrade is in itself interesting, seeing as the topic of human-animal relations is still not part of the academic and artistic mainstream globally, let alone in Serbia. The themes and messages of these exhibitions seem eve…
Alien and Storytelling in the Anthropocene: Evolutionism, Creationism and Pseudoarchaeology in Science Fiction
This paper analyses the change in the metanarrative of the Alien franchise initiated by the movie Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and continued with a series of three sequels. The franchise was revived in 2012 with the prequel Prometheus. The story of the first four movies is set at the end of the anthropocene, and it deals with the horror of alien life forms, offering an evolutionist approach to the development of the human species. Howe…
The city as multispecies space: Dog walking in downtown Belgrade during the Covid-19 lockdown
This paper represents an autoethnographic account of dog walking in a residential area of downtown Belgrade during the COVID-19 lockdown of early 2020. It is also an attempt at, or rather, the result, of the largely experimental practice of canine-assisted ethnography, as my dogs Dita and Ripley were instrumental during fieldwork. The lockdown, with its ill-thought-out and constantly changing rules about dog walking underlined three basic issues:…
The motif of the “lost paradise” in blockbuster films set in the post-apocalypse
Considering that mythology and storytelling are an integral part of the human experience, in this paper we will take a look at contemporary iterations of certain archetypal myths. While the authors do not espouse the idea that ?science fiction is the mythology of modern society?, we believe that there is something to be said about popular culture as a medium of narrative transmission in post-industrialist society. In this sense, the paper analyse…
Human exceptionalism and the lot of animals: Telling stories about “human nature” in the anthropocene
This paper arose from a discussion of Maria Kronfeldner?s book What?s Left of Human Nature? In it, I am chiefly concerned with two things: the role that other animals are afforded in discussions about and attempts at defining ?human nature?, and a critique of the concept of nature that is utilized in the book. Furthermore, I view science as storytelling practice, and scholarly narratives about ?human nature? as important stories in order to pose …
The people’s pygmy princess and female rage: Memes featuring Moo-Deng
Born in summer 2024 at Khao Kheow open zoo in Thailand, Moo-Deng (eng. ?Bouncy pork?) is a female baby pygmy hippopotamus whose photographs and videos have become a viral sensation online. She was chosen by zoo staff to promote awareness of her endangered species, but images of Moo-Deng quickly went viral, and owing to her expressive facial features, took on a life of their own, becoming memes and (more importantly) being turned into fan art by p…
History (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Environmental ethics (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · Art (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Geographies of human-animal interactions (5 works) · History (5 works) · Law (5 works)