The Disembodied Shark and the Super-Whale
The Hidden Curriculum of Animal Edutainment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6452874 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Teresa Lloro-Bidart (0000-0002-2196-1818, Department of Liberal Studies, California State Polytechnic University https://dx.doi.org/6647 Pomona, CA USA), Constance Russell (0000-0002-6093-7423, Faculty of Education, Lakehead University Orillia, ON Canada) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-20 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-10 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Society and Animals (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1063-1119 • E-ISSN: 1568-5306 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/15685306-bja10246 |
| OpenAlex | W4411223079 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 25 |
Animal tourism sites like aquariums, nature parks, and zoos often double as informal educational spaces that communicate an anthropocentric hidden curriculum to visitors. These spaces are referred to as “edutainment” to emphasize how the intersections of education and entertainment impact teaching and learning. This article briefly describes interpretation in aquariums and marine parks in North America followed by a description of the hidden curriculum concept and its relevance to animal-focused education. Then, drawing on multispecies ethnographic research conducted at two sites – a public aquarium in southern California and a national marine park in Quebec where whale watching occurs – the article describes how the animals in these spaces are politically deployed in edutainment processes that communicate a problematic hidden curriculum that centers human experiences
Biology · Curriculum · Fishery · Hidden curriculum · Pedagogy · Sociology · Whale · Animal and Plant Science Education · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Outdoor and Experiential Education
Animals in Environmental Education
Animals and Tourism
What Comes after Entanglement?
Managing the super-shark
Cinematic Nature
An Intersectional Approach to Teaching and Learning About Humans and Other Animals in Educational Contexts
Animals, Plants, People, and Things
Management by Totemization
Shaping the Shoreline
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
Critical practice and the public pedagogy of environmental and conservation media
Identifying factors influencing attitudes towards species conservation – a transnational study in the context of zoos
Nature is a nice place to save but I wouldn’t want to live there
Animal Attractions
Wilderness” revisited
Mapping the Super-Whale
Orca
Staging Tourism
Primate Visions
Flagships or Battleships
Contradictions in Tourism
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |