Circus Studes

American Circus (Re)Invented-Queering Cirque Du Soleil

by Michael Johnson Jr.

The Ringling Brothers: Domesticity in the Early-Twentieth Century

by Sean-Patrick Doan

Gender & the 'Freak' Spectacle

by Sean-Patrick Doan

Creatures in Captivity and Ethics

by Poppy Valentine

Prisons. Factory States. Low-Wage Workers. Child Sex Trade. Animal Abuse for: Clothing, Entertainment and Food. I... more Prisons. Factory States. Low-Wage Workers. Child Sex Trade. Animal Abuse for: Clothing, Entertainment and Food. I really could go on with other outlets of injust captivity, but this covers some major ones.

Frames and Ambivalence in Context: An Analysis of Hands-On Experts’ Perception of the Welfare of Animals in Traveling Circuses in The Netherlands

by Hanneke J. Nijland

Hanneke J. Nijland • Noelle M. C. Aarts • Reint Jan Renes
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Accepted: 29 March 2010

Keywords: Animal welfare Perceptions Frame of reference
Symbolic convergence Ambivalence Coping strategies Circus

The results of an empirical study into the perceptions of ‘hands-on’ experts concerning the welfare of (non-human)... more The results of an empirical study into the perceptions of ‘hands-on’ experts concerning the welfare of (non-human) animals in travelling circuses in the Netherlands are presented. A qualitative approach, based on in-depth conversations with trainers/performers, former trainers/performers, veterinarians and an owner of an animal shelter, conveyed several patterns in the contextual construction of perceptions and the use of dissonance reduction strategies. Perceptions were analyzed with the help of the Symbolic Convergence Theory and the model of the frame of reference, consisting of knowledge, convictions, values, norms and interests.
The study shows that the debate regarding animals in circuses in the Netherlands is centred on the level of welfare that is required; the importance of animal welfare is not disputed. Arguments that were used differed according to the respondents’ specific backgrounds and can be placed on a gradient ranging from the conviction that the welfare of animals in circuses is sufficiently warranted and both human and animal enjoy the performance (right end), to the conviction that animal welfare in circuses is negative, combined with the idea that the goal of entertaining people does not outweigh that (left end). The study confirms that perceptions reflect people’s contexts, though the variety in scopes suggests that the (inter)relations between people and their context are complex in nature.
Evidence of cognitive dissonance was abundant. Coping strategies were found to be used more by respondents towards the right end of the gradient, suggesting that those respondents experience more ambivalence. This encountered pattern of association between position on the gradient and frequency of dissonance reduction strategies calls for further research on the type of ambivalent feelings experienced.
The authors argue that, to come to an agreement about the welfare of animals in circuses, including the way this welfare should be guaranteed, stakeholders from different contexts need to engage in a dialogue in which a distance is taken from right/wrong-schemes and that starts from acceptance of dilemmas and ambiguity.

America as a Circus. Anun Gustav Matoš's Multiple Perspectives on Modernity

by Wladimir Fischer

published in"Reverberations. Representations of Modernity, Tradition and Cultural Value in/through Central Europe and North America. Eds. Susan Ingram, Markus Reisenleitner and Cornelia Szabó-Knotik. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang, 2002. 259–75.

The Man In the Red Coat—Management In the Circus

by Ron Beadle

Beadle, R & Könyöt, D. (2006). ‘The Man in the Red Coat – Management in the Circus’ Culture and Organization 12:2, 127-137

The Discovery of a Peculiar Good: Towards a Reading of Nell Stroud's' Josser: Days and Nights In the Circus'.

by Ron Beadle

Beadle, R. (2003). ‘The discovery of a Peculiar Good’. Tamara – Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science 2:3. 60-68

Stroud, N.(1999) Josser: Days and Nights In the Circus, London: Little Brown & Co.

by Ron Beadle

Beadle, R. (2003). Review of ‘Josser’ by Nell Stroud. Culture and Organisation 9:2 pp139-144

How do circus people understand the good?

by Ron Beadle

Beadle, R. (2009). How do circus people understand their own good? Presented To: Going Back To the Roots: Plain Persons Asking Questions about the Human Good and Nature of Things: International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry Third Annual Conference; University College Dublin March 9.