Australasian Animal Studies Association

Schultz-Figueroa, Benjamin

Assistant Professor

Seattle University
Research interests / activities

Dr. Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa is an Assistant Professor in Film Studies at Seattle University. His research focuses on the history of scientific filmmaking, nontheatrical film, and animal studies. Among other venues, his writing has been published in JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Film History, Journal of Environmental Media. His book The Celluloid Specimen: Moving Image Research into Animal Life is due to be published by UC Press in 2022

Outputs

The Celluloid Specimen: Moving Image Research into Animal Life. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 2022.

“Abandoned Aquariums: Online Animal Attractions during Quarantine.” Journal of Environmental Media 1.2 (Summer 2020).

“From Lab to Classroom: Animal Testing and Educational Film.” Film History 30.4 (Winter 2019).

“B. F. Skinner’s Project Pigeon: Rendering the War Animal Through Optical Technology.” Cinema Journal 58.4 (Summer 2019).

“From Cat to Clowder: Kedi in the Anthropocene.” In Kedi: A Docalogue, edited by Jaimie Baron and Kristen Fuhs. Philadelphia, PA: Routledge, 2021.

“Mediating Disease: Scientific Transcriptions of COVID-19 into Animal Models.” In Pandemic Media: Preliminary Notes Toward an Inventory, coauthored with Sophia Gräfe, edited by Philipp Dominik Keidl, Vinzenz Hediger and Laliv Melamed. Lüneburg, Germany: meson press, 2020.

“The Celluloid Specimen: Animal Origins for the Moving Image.” In Viscera, Skin, and Physical Form: Corporeality and Early Cinema, edited by Jan Olsson, Marina Dahlquist, Valentine Robert and Doron Galili. Bloomington, IA: Indiana University Press, 2018.

Potential areas for research supervision
Animal Representations in Film and Media; Animals and Science; Animals and Military; Animals and Affect Studies; Animals and Critical Race Theory; Animals and Documentary