”Intet av våra husdjur bedömes så olika som katten”: Idéer och tankar om katten inom det svenska djurskyddet under 1800-talets slut och 1900-talets början
(2025) ILHM05 20241Division of History of Ideas and Sciences
- Abstract
- ”No other animal is perceived as differently as the cat”: The ideas and thoughts about the cat in the Swedish animal welfare organization during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century
This is a thesis about the cat, more specifically about what people in the Swedish animal welfare organisation thought about it. The materials used in this study are articles about the cat published in the organisations own journals as well as three books related to both the cat and this context, all published between the years 1878 and 1927. The theoretical framework is liminality, described as being ”on the threshold” and ”between the no-longer and the not-yet”, which makes it possible to study something that is in between categories;... (More) - ”No other animal is perceived as differently as the cat”: The ideas and thoughts about the cat in the Swedish animal welfare organization during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century
This is a thesis about the cat, more specifically about what people in the Swedish animal welfare organisation thought about it. The materials used in this study are articles about the cat published in the organisations own journals as well as three books related to both the cat and this context, all published between the years 1878 and 1927. The theoretical framework is liminality, described as being ”on the threshold” and ”between the no-longer and the not-yet”, which makes it possible to study something that is in between categories; something that’s liminal, fluid and everchanging, such as the cat. The aim of this thesis is to depict the ways people in the animal welfare organisation viewed the cat, and by doing so hopefully also to contribute to the writing and mapping of the cat’s cultural history in a Swedish context.
In my reading of the material, I found three main polarities between which the cat continually moves; the cat is described as both domesticated and wild, useful and harmful, and as both a friend and a foe of humans as well as other animals. In this context, the cat is attributed several, often opposing, traits; its described as good and bad, clever and stupid, friendly and dangerous, sensitive and ingratiating, understanding and insidious, civilised and feral, feminine and motherly, and so on. The cat is discussed in relation to legal, and therefore also somewhat political matters when the writers are discussing animal welfare laws and propositions, in relation to other animals when trying to establish its role and position in the animal kingdom, in relation to gender aspects and women, and in relation to the range and reach of the animal welfare organisation, here debating whether or not the cat should be protected by the organisation. Put in to perspective, all these results indicate that the cat is in between the categories nature and culture as well; it’s a part of both. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9213055
- author
- Lyshaug, Mari LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- ILHM05 20241
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Katter, Cats, Djurskydd, Animal Welfare, Liminal, Liminality, Human-Animal Studies, Posthumanism
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9213055
- date added to LUP
- 2026-03-05 14:52:51
- date last changed
- 2026-03-05 14:52:51
@misc{9213055,
abstract = {{”No other animal is perceived as differently as the cat”: The ideas and thoughts about the cat in the Swedish animal welfare organization during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century
This is a thesis about the cat, more specifically about what people in the Swedish animal welfare organisation thought about it. The materials used in this study are articles about the cat published in the organisations own journals as well as three books related to both the cat and this context, all published between the years 1878 and 1927. The theoretical framework is liminality, described as being ”on the threshold” and ”between the no-longer and the not-yet”, which makes it possible to study something that is in between categories; something that’s liminal, fluid and everchanging, such as the cat. The aim of this thesis is to depict the ways people in the animal welfare organisation viewed the cat, and by doing so hopefully also to contribute to the writing and mapping of the cat’s cultural history in a Swedish context.
In my reading of the material, I found three main polarities between which the cat continually moves; the cat is described as both domesticated and wild, useful and harmful, and as both a friend and a foe of humans as well as other animals. In this context, the cat is attributed several, often opposing, traits; its described as good and bad, clever and stupid, friendly and dangerous, sensitive and ingratiating, understanding and insidious, civilised and feral, feminine and motherly, and so on. The cat is discussed in relation to legal, and therefore also somewhat political matters when the writers are discussing animal welfare laws and propositions, in relation to other animals when trying to establish its role and position in the animal kingdom, in relation to gender aspects and women, and in relation to the range and reach of the animal welfare organisation, here debating whether or not the cat should be protected by the organisation. Put in to perspective, all these results indicate that the cat is in between the categories nature and culture as well; it’s a part of both.}},
author = {{Lyshaug, Mari}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{”Intet av våra husdjur bedömes så olika som katten”: Idéer och tankar om katten inom det svenska djurskyddet under 1800-talets slut och 1900-talets början}},
year = {{2025}},
}