Mariam Motamedi-Fraser BA (Hons), PhD

Staff details

Position Reader
Department Sociology
Email m.motamedi-fraser (@gold.ac.uk)
Phone +44 (0)20 7919 2204
Mariam Motamedi-Fraser BA (Hons), PhD

My research is located in Animal Studies. In particular, I am interested in the theoretical, methodological and political/ethical challenges that animals posed to social science and arts and humanities thinking. My book, Dog Politics: Species Stories and the Animal Sciences, is a critique of the dog-human 'bond' as it is understood in canine science and more broadly. I teach two modules: Thinking Animals, at undergraduate level, and The Ethics and Politics of Animals, at Masters level. This is a core course on the MA Ecology, Culture, and Society. I live with Monk, a black Lab, who also co-teaches with me (in his own way). I welcome PhD students in any area of animal research.

If you would like to register for the Animal Scales seminars (see 'Research Projects' below), please click [here] (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/ucl-anthropocene-71613287353).

If you would like to read Dog Politics through Open Access, please click [here] (https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526174819)

Academic qualifications

  • PhD, Lancaster University
  • BA Hons, Social and Environmental Studies, Liverpool University

Teaching and Supervision

Publications and research outputs

Book

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2024. Dog Politics: Species Stories in the Animal Sciences. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526174802

Motamedi-Fraser, M. 2015. Word: Beyond Language, Beyond Image. London: Rowman & Littlefield International. ISBN 9781783481422

Fraser, Mariam and Greco, Monica. 2004. The Body: A Reader. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-34007-6

Fraser, Mariam. 1999. Identity without Selfhood: Simone de Beauvoir and Bisexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521623575

Edited Book

Fraser, Mariam; Kember, Sarah and Lury, Celia, eds. 2006. Inventive Life: Approaches to the New Vitalism. London: Sage. ISBN 9781412920360

Edited Journal

Fraser, Mariam; Kember, Sarah and Lury, Celia, eds. 2005. Inventive Life: Approaches Towards a New Vitalism, Theory Culture and Society, 22(1). 0263-2764

Book Section

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2015. 'Locating the Archive: the search for "Nurafkan"'. In: Anthony Downey, ed. Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East. London and New York: I.B .Tauris. ISBN 978-1-784-53-4110

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2013. Geo-Archive. In: Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi, eds. Seep. 9 Rotterdam: Pages, pp. 1-11. ISBN 978-90-821190-0-8

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2012. Once Upon a Problem. In: Les Back and Nirmal Puwar, eds. Live Methods. London: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 84-107. ISBN 1444339591

Fraser, Mariam. 2010. Facts, Ethics and Event. In: Casper Bruun Jensen and Kjetil Roedje, eds. DELEUZIAN INTERSECTIONS: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 52-82. ISBN 978-1-84545-614-6

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2000. Pathological Normality. In: Charles Campbell and Suhail Malik, eds. Front. Don Projects, pp. 39-74. ISBN 978-0953904303

Fraser, Mariam. 1997. Lose Your Face. In: Phoebe Davidson and Bi Academic Intervention, eds. The Bisexual Imaginary: Representation, Identity and Desire. London: Cassell, p. 38. ISBN 0-304-33744-7

Article

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2023. Writing on the Animal's Side. Humanimalia, 14(1), pp. 409-418. ISSN 2151-8645

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2019. Dog words – or, How to think without language. The Sociological Review, 67(2), pp. 374-390. ISSN 0038-0261

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam and Zaker, Farniyaz. 2015. Words and Walls, Texts and Textiles: A Conversation. Theory, Culture and Society, 32(3), pp. 115-134. ISSN 0263-2764

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2012. Once Upon a Problem. The Sociological Review, 60(S1), pp. 84-107. ISSN 0038-0261

Fraser, Mariam. 2009. Standards, Populations, and Difference. Cultural Critique, 71, pp. 47-80. ISSN 0882-4371

Fraser, Mariam. 2009. Experiencing Sociology. European Journal of Social Theory, 12(1), pp. 63-81. ISSN 1368-4310

Fraser, Mariam and Puwar, Nirmal. 2008. Introduction: Intimacy in Research. History of the Human Sciences, 21(4), pp. 1-16. ISSN 1461720X

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2008. Facts, Ethics and Event. Sociology Working Papers, pp. 1-33.

Fraser, Mariam. 2006. The ethics of reality and virtual reality: Latour, facts and values. History of the Human Sciences, 19(2), pp. 45-72. ISSN 1461720X

Fraser, Mariam. 2006. Event. Theory, Culture & Society, 23(2-3), pp. 129-132. ISSN 0263-2764

Fraser, Mariam. 2005. Making music matter. Theory Culture & Society, 22(1), pp. 173-189. ISSN 14603616

Fraser, Mariam. 2003. Material theory: Duration and the Serotonin Hypothesis of Depression. Theory Culture & Society, 20, pp. 1-26. ISSN 02632764

Fraser, Mariam. 2002. What is the matter of feminist criticism? Economy and Society, 31(4), pp. 606-625. ISSN 14695766

Fraser, Mariam. 2001. The nature of Prozac. History of the Human Sciences, 14(3), pp. 56-84. ISSN 1461720X

Fraser, Mariam. 2001. Visceral futures: bodies of feminist criticism. Social Epistemology, 15(2), pp. 91-111. ISSN 0269-1728

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2000. Creative affects. New Formations, 39, pp. 55-69. ISSN 0950-2378

Fraser, Mariam. 1999. Classing Queer: Politics in Competition. Theory, Culture and Society, 16(2), pp. 107-131. ISSN 0263-2764

Fraser, Mariam. 1998. `The Face-Off Between Will and Fate': Artistic Identity and Neurological Style in de Kooning's Late Works. Body & Society, 4(4), pp. 1-22. ISSN 1357-034X

Fraser, Mariam. 1997. Feminism, Foucault and Deleuze. Theory, Culture & Society, 14(2), pp. 23-37. ISSN 0263-2764

Digital

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2014. Feminism, Foucault, Deleuze.

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2013. Locating the Archive.

Motamedi-Fraser, Mariam. 2012. New Light from the Middle East.

Film/Video

Sepahvand, Ashkan. 2024. Seeking for Story. A film by Ashkan Sepahvand, with performances by Cecilia Macfarlane and Mariam Motamedi Fraser.

Further profile content

Professional projects

2020-24
Seeking for Story, artistic research film project by Ashkan Sepahvand, Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. Epistolary and in-person collaboration with the artist Ashkan Sepahvand on the Mirdrekvandi Archive at the Bodleian Libraries leading to a film, which includes spoken excerpts from my extensive writing on this archive. The film (60 mins) will premiere in February 2024 at Modern Art Oxford.

2022
What A Mouse Knows, Museum of Comedy, London. Provided mentorship for the writer and was involved in the organisation of this professional theatrical production. Writer: Maisie Tomlinson. Director: Ed Madden (Globe, The Southwark Playhouse, National Theatre). Actors: Ian Drysdale, Nancy Crane, Lydia Larson.

2015-2017
Migrating Dreams and Nightmares, Goldsmiths (2015-2016) and Warwick University (2016-2017). Co-initiated and co-organised with Nirmal Puwar (Sociology). Exhibition and related events (international, national, local, and pedagogical) explored bodily, visceral, emotional and affective expressions of migration.

2005-2008
A Work-in-Process, Goldsmiths. Initiated by myself, co-organised with Andrea Phillips (Curating). The project brought together staff and students in the Curating and Sociology Departments. Students chose artist-architect Marjetica Potrc to design a structure – which turned out to be wind turbines - that embodied the intellectual profile of the Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process.

Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups

Research projects

2024: Convenor, Animal Scales Seminar Series
Co-hosted by UCL Anthropocene and Centre for Critical Global Change. Speakers: Maan Barua, Charlotte Blattner, Andrea Arnold & Anat Pick, Eric Baratay, Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson, Dinesh Wadiwel.

Conferences and talks

2022: Dog disputes
Indian Animal Studies Collective, 'Table Talk' series

2019: Is there an ethics of endurance?
Workshop on Environmental Change And Ritualized Relationships With The Other-Than-Human World, Berkeley.

2019: Challenging reason? The passions and passivity of animals
Conference on Emotion, British Animal Studies Network Conference, Glasgow.

2019

Expert Reviewer in Animals, Humanities and Social Sciences Expert Review Group, Wellcome Trust.