UC Research Profile - University of Canterbury

Professor Philip Armstrong

Contact

Department: English

Email: philip.armstrong@canterbury.ac.nz

Phone Number: +64 3 369 3999 ext. null

Office: Karl Popper 606

Language: English

About

Research / Creative works

Projects

Researcher Summary

My current research involves analysis of nature, and animals in particular, as expressed in cultural representations and practices, especially literature, and especially in the contexts of colonialism, decolonisation and globalisation. My most recent book is Sheep (Reaktion 2016), a cultural history of one of the most underestimated animals in our country and our world. My other books in this field include A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in our Culture, History and Everyday Life (AUP 2013), co-authored with Annie Potts and Deidre Brown; What Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity (Routledge 2008); and Knowing Animals (Brill 2007), a collection of essays co-edited with Laurence Simmons. I have also published two books on Shakespeare (Shakespeare's Visual Regime, Palgrave, 2000; and Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis, Routledge, 2001), articles on the literatures of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, as well as short fiction and poetry.

Subject Area: Disciplines

Cultural Studies: Cultural Studies
Human-Animal Studies: Human-Animal Studies
Literature: Literature

Resources

Research/Scholarly/Creative Works

Authored Books

Armstrong P. (2016) Sheep. London: Reaktion Books. 200.

Potts A., Armstrong P. and Brown D. (2013) A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in our Culture, History and Everyday Life. Auckland: Auckland University Press. 288.

Armstrong P. (2008) What Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity. London and New York: Routledge. 264pp-264pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203004562.

Armstrong P. (2001) Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis. London and New York: Routledge. 269p.

Armstrong P. (2000) Shakespeare's Visual Regime: Tragedy, Psychoanalysis and the Gaze. Basingstoke: Palgrave. 240pp.

Edited Volumes

Simmons L; Armstrong P (Ed.) (2007) Knowing Animals. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Press. 312.

Journal Articles

Armstrong P. (2021) Orpheus in Pieces. The Journal of New Zealand Studies (NS32) http://dx.doi.org/10.26686/jnzs.ins32.6868.

Armstrong P. and Potts A. (2021) Persona Non Grata. Animal Studies Journal 10(2) 2: 1-18.

Armstrong P. (2019) "Surprising, rare, unconceivable": Animal wonders in the exotic tradition. Ariel 50(4): 1-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ari.2019.0031.

Armstrong P. (2012) Samuel Butler's sheep. Journal of Victorian Culture 17(4): 442-453. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13555502.2012.735449.

Armstrong P. (2011) Meat or Vegetables? New Zealand's Literary Sheep and Guthrie-Smith's Tutira. Journal of New Zealand Literature 29: 12-31.

Armstrong P. (2011) On Tenuous Grounds. Landfall (222): 8-19.

Armstrong P. (2010) Moa Citings. Journal of Commonwealth Literature 45(3): 325-339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021989410376799.

Armstrong P. (2008) Animating the Text. English in Aotearoa (65): 41-48.

Armstrong Philip. (2006) Sympathy. Satya June/July: 51-53.

Armstrong P. (2005) What animals mean, in Moby-Dick, for example. Textual Practice 19(1): 93-111.

Armstrong P. (2004) "Leviathan is a Skein of Networks": Translating Nature and Culture in Moby-Dick. English Literary History 71: 1039-1063.

Armstrong P. (2004) Moby-Dick and Compassion. Society and Animals 12(1): 19-37.

Armstrong PC. (2003) Oceangoing Craft: The Writing of Contemporary Polynesia. Landfall 206: 21-38.

Armstrong P. (2002) Shakespeare and the Space of Adolescence. English in Aotearoa 47: 18-28.

Armstrong PC. (2002) The Postcolonial Animal. Society and Animals 10(4): 413-419.

Armstrong P. (2001) Good Eating: Ethics and Biculturalism in Reading The Bone People. Ariel 32(2): 7-27.

Armstrong P. (1999) Dis/Coveries: Allen Curnow's Later Poetry. Journal of Commonwealth Literature 34(1): 7-26.

Armstrong P. (1997) Trees, Galleries, Moving Subjects: Colonialism and the Gaze in Curnow's 'Later' Poetry. Journal of New Zealand Literature 15: 95-113.

Armstrong P. (1995) Spheres of Influence: Cartography and the Gaze in Shakespearean Tragedy and History. Shakespeare Studies 22: 39-70.

Armstrong P. (1994) Uncanny Spectacles: Psychoanalysis and the Texts of King Lear. Textual Practice 8(3): 414-434.

Chapters

Armstrong P. (2019) Shakespeare’s Animal Parts. Reading Literary Animals: Medieval to Modern: 69-87. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315106366-5.

Armstrong P. (2019) Shakespeare's Animal Parts. In Edwards K; Ryan D; Spencer J (Ed.), Reading Literary Animals: Medieval to Modern: 69-87. New York: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315106366.

Armstrong PC. (2018) Sheep-Shaped. In Bull J; Holmberg T; Asberg C (Ed.), Animal Places: Lively Cartographies of Human-Animal Relations: 17-32. London: Routledge.

Potts A. and Armstrong P. (2018) Vegan. In Gruen L (Ed.), Critical Terms in Animal Studies: 395-409. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Armstrong PC. (2016) Preposterous Nature in Shakespeare's Tragedies. In Neill M; Schalkwyk D (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Shakespearean Tragedy: 104-119. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Armstrong P. (2014) The Wonderment of this Taxonomy': Animals and Wonder from the Pre-Modern to the Modern. In Andersson Cederholm E; Björk A; Jennbert K; Lönngren AS (Ed.), Exploring the Animal Turn: Human-Animal Relation in Science, Society and Culture: 155-170. Lund: Pufendorf Institute.

Armstrong P. and Potts A. (2014) The Emptiness of the Wild. In Marvin G; McHugh S (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Studies: 168-181. London and New York: Routledge.

Potts A. and Armstrong P. (2013) Picturing Cruelty: Chicken Advocacy and Visual Culture. In Probyn-Rapsey F; Johnston J (Ed.), Animal Death: 151-168. Sydney: Sydney University Press.

Armstrong P. (2011) Cetaceans and Sentiment. In Freeman C; Leane E; Watt Y (Ed.), Considering Animals: Contemporary Studies in Human-Animal Relations: 169-182. Farnham: Ashgate.

Armstrong P. (2011) The Gaze of Animals. In Taylor N; Signal T (Ed.), Theorizing Animals: Re-thinking Humanimal Relations: 175-199. Leiden: Brill.

Clement J., Matthews B., Pritchard B., Palmer J., Round D., Jones C., Armstrong P. and Mason E. (2011) The British World. In Jones C; Matthews B; Clement J (Ed.), Treasures of the University of Canterbury Library Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.

Potts A. and Armstrong P. (2010) Hybrid Vigor: Interbreeding Cultural Studies and Human-Animal Studies. In De Mello M (Ed.), Teaching the Animal: Human-Animal Studies across the Disciplines: 3-17. New York: Lantern.

Armstrong P. (2007) Farming Images: Animal Rights and Agribusiness in the Field of Vision. In Simmons L; Armstrong P (Ed.), Knowing Animals: 105-128. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.

Armstrong P. and Simmons L. (2007) Bestiary: An Introduction. In Simmons L; Armstrong P (Ed.), Knowing Animals: 1-24. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Press.

Armstrong P. and Potts A. (2004) Serving the wild. In Smith A; Wevers L (Ed.), On Display: New Essays in Cultural Studies: 15-40. Wellington: Victoria University Press.

Armstrong P. (1999) Allen Curnow. In Serafin SR (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century (3rd ed.): 2. Detroit: St James Press.

Armstrong P. (1999) Keri Hulme. In Serafin SR (Ed.), Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century (3rd ed.): 2. Detroit: St James Press.

Armstrong P. (1998) Spheres of Influence: Cartography and the Gaze in Shakespeare's Roman Plays. In Zimmerman Susan (Ed.), Shakespeare's Tragedies: 64-83. New York: Macmillan.

Armstrong P. (1996) Watching Hamlet Watching: Lacan, Shakespeare and the Mirror/Stage. In Hawkes Terence (Ed.), Alternative Shakespeares: Volume 2: 216-237. London and New York: Routledge.

Dramatic and Literary Texts

Armstrong P. (2022) My Own Goals. Author: In Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2022, Palmerston North:Massey University Press. 60-60. [Poem].

Armstrong P. (2022) Personality Test. Author: [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2022) The Advancement of Learning. Author: In Landfall 243, Dunedin:Otago University Press. 62-62. [poetry].

Armstrong P. (2021) Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Author: In Landfall 241, Dunedin:Otago University Press. 86-86. [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2021) I Acknowledge Mine. Author: In takahē 102, Christchurch:takahē Collective Trust. 63-63. [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2020) Sinking Lessons. Author: Dunedin:Otago University Press. 54pp.. [Poetry Collection].

Armstrong P. (2018) Obiter Dicta. author: In Landfall 236, Dunedin:Otago University Press. 55-56. [poetry].

Armstrong PC. (2018) Five Poems. author: In PNR 264, Manchester:PN Review. 17-18. [poetry].

Armstrong P. (2016) Life of Clay. Poet: In Sport 44: New New Zealand Writing 2016, Wellington:Victoria University Press. 13-22. [Poetry].

Armstrong PC. (2016) Driving Lesson. [Poetry].

Armstrong PC. (2016) General Relativity. [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2014) Litter. In Among Animals: The Lives of Animals and Humans in Contemporary Short Fiction, Ashland:Ashland Creek Press. 107-115. [Short Fiction].

Armstrong P. (2014) Portolan. In Landfall 227, 19-22. [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2013) Laputa. In Snorkel 17, [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2013) Longitude. [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2013) The Rookery. In Sport 41, 248-261. [Short Fiction].

Armstrong P. (2012) Chicxulub. In Geek Mook, Melbourne:Vignette Press. 39-45. [Short Fiction].

Armstrong P. (2012) Imaginary Waste Management. In Landfall 224, 53-55. [Short Fiction].

Armstrong P. (2012) Wildlife of the Wet Tropics. In JAAM 30, 11-12. [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2011) A Horizontal Light. In Snorkel 14, [Poetry].

Armstrong P. (2010) Pastoral. In A Foreign Country: New Zealand Speculative Fiction, Wellington:Random Static. 221-228. [Short Fiction].

Armstrong P. (2009) A Report on the New Zealand White. In Sport 37, 189-196. [Short fiction].

Armstrong P. (2009) Memorial. In JAAM 27, 143-146. [Short fiction].

Conference Contributions - Other

Armstrong PC. (2017) Do Sheep Make Good Humans? Adelaide: Animal Intersections: 7th Australasian Animal Studies Conference, 2-5 Jul 2017.

Armstrong PC. (2017) Welcome to the Milk Machine: Dairying as New Zealand's Industrial Revolution. University of Canterbury: Dear Dairy: Counting the Cost of Milk, 21 Jul 2017.

Armstrong P. (2016) Following Sheep -- or, Natural Family Values [Invited and Funded Keynote Presentation]. University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia: Beyond the Human: Feminism and the Animal Turn, 9-10 Feb 2016.

Armstrong PC. (2016) "Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?" -- The Industrial Sheep. Stockholm, Sweden: Control 2016: European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, 14-17 Jun 2016.

Armstrong P. (2015) How Can You Be Fond of Thousands of Anything?': Animals (Especially Sheep) and the History of New Zealand Emotions [Invited and Funded Keynote Presentation]. Wellington, New Zealand: History of Emotions Conference, 3-5 Sep 2015.

Armstrong P. (2014) The Wonderment of this Taxonomy': Animals and Wonder from Herodotus to Galapagos [Invited and Funded Keynote Presentation]. Lund, Sweden: Exploring the Animal Turn, 26-27 May 2014.

Armstrong Philip. (2014) The Wonderment of This Taxonomy': Animals and Wonder from Herodotus to Galapagos [Invited and Funded Presentation]. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Affective Habitus: New Environmental Histories of Botany, Zoology and Emotions, 19-21 Jun 2014.

Armstrong P. (2013) The Rights of Vegetables: Samuel Butler's Theory of Nonhuman Agency. University of Sydney, Australia: Life in the Anthropocene: Australian Animal Studies Group Conference 2013, 8-10 Jul 2013.

Armstrong P. (2012) The Rights of Vegetables: Samuel Butler's Theory of Nonhuman Agency. Milwaukee, WI, USA: Nonhuman: The 26th Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA), 27-30 Sep 2012.

Armstrong P. (2009) Moa Stories. Newcastle, Australia: The 2009 International Academic & Community Conference on Animals & Society, 13-19 Jul 2009.

Armstrong P. (2009) The Gaze of Animals. Newcastle, Australia: The 2009 International Academic & Community Conference on Animals & Society, 13-19 Jul 2009.

Potts A. and Armstrong P. (2009) [Invited Presentation] The New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies. Newcastle, Australia: Minding Animals Conference, 13-19 Jul 2009.

Armstrong P. (2007) Feral Animals as Code-Breakers. Portland, ME, USA: Twenty-First Annual Conference of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, 1-4 Nov 2007.

Armstrong P. (2007) Opo's Children: Cetaceans and Sentimentalism. Hobart, Australia: Animals and Society II: Considering Animals, 3-6 Jul 2007.

Armstrong P. (2007) Sympathy and Sentiment in Human-Animal Narratives After Modernity. Toronto, Canada: Nature Matters Conference 2007, 25-28 Oct 2007.

Potts A., Armstrong P. and Brown D. (2007) Introducing 'Human-Animal Studies': New interdisciplinary scholarship in Aotearoa New Zealand. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand: Transformations 2007, 27-28 Aug 2007.

Armstrong P. (2005) Animal Agency in Moby-Dick. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia: Association for Study of Literature and the Environment (Australia and New Zealand) Conference, 31 Mar 2005.

Armstrong PC. (2000) Black Hamlet [Invited and Funded Keynote Presentation]. University of Auckland: Dislocating Shakespeare, 21-23 Sep 2000.

Oral Presentations

Armstrong PC. (2017) ‘Surprising, Rare, Unconceivable’: Animal Wonders in the Exotic Tradition [Invited and Funded Presentation]. University of Kassel, Germany: Humans-Animals-Society Lecture Series, 12 Jun 2017.

Armstrong PC. (2015) Sheep [Invited and Funded Presentation]. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Candada: AnimalFest: Celebrating Reaktion's Animal Series, 15 Jul 2015.

Armstrong P. (2014) "An Odd Worm": Animals, Agency and Affect in Shakespeare's Tragedies [Invited and Funded Presentation]. Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies, Lund University, Sweden: Exploring the Animal Turn Seminar Series.

Armstrong Philip. (2014) The Wonderment of This Taxonomy': Animals and Wonder from Herodotus to Galapagos [Invited and Funded Presentation]. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: Public Lecture.

Armstrong P. (2012) The gaze of animals [Invited and Funded Presentation]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Cross-Cultural and Comparative Studies Group Seminar, 07 Sep 2012.

Armstrong P. (2010) Moa Citings [Invited and Funded Presentation]. Department of Media, Film and Communicaton, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand: Research Seminar.

Armstrong P. (2010) Moa citings. University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: English Seminar Series, 01 Sep 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021989410376799.

Armstrong P. (2008) Feral Feelings: Animals, Agency and Affect in Narrative Fiction [Invited and Funded Presentation]. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University English Department Seminar Series, 01 Jun 2006.

Armstrong P. (2008) Feral Feelings: Animals, Agency and Affect in Narrative Fiction [Invited and Funded Presentation]. London, UK: Meeting of the British Animal Studies Network: Representing Animals.

Other

Armstrong P. (2013) Arthur MacGregor, Animal Encounters: Human and Animal Interaction in Britain from the Norman Conquest to World War One, London: Reaktion Books, 2012. 552pp. Humanimalia 4(2) [Book Review].

Armstrong P. (2012) Literary Animal Encounters. In Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies: 342-345. New York: Columbia University Press.

Research Groups

New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies (NZCHAS)

Research Projects

Kararehe: Animals in Art, Literature and Everyday Culture in Aotearoa New Zealand