# Rescue Me: Dog Abundance, Social Scarcity #### calendar\_today Date and Time **March 23, 2022** 03:30PM - 03:30PM EDT #### pin\_drop Location **Zoom Meeting** [ this registration page arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kd-uqqTwiHdHFbJXK7aKeqKUdMN0yC3J0) ## [SOUND/TEXT](/soundtext) ## **SPEAKER:** Margret Grebowicz, University of Silesia (Poland) We are leaning on dogs more heavily than ever in history for the emotional labor of sustaining an unsustainable world. But exactly what it is we are trying to “get” out of dogs is less and less clear. What is the relationship between our mutual captivation and the material and affective conditions that literally hold us captive, in very different but intimately related ways? The tension between dogs as a space of futurity, change, and a new lease on life—which extends to the life of the planet-- on one hand and that of entrenched patterns of economic growth and the attendant exhaustion of life on the other has never been more palpable. Dog ownership is a problem-space at the very limits of growth. The more dogs we adopt, the closer we get to dogs, the more we become aware of and attracted to their undeniable vitality—but this is also true for the forces of advanced capitalism, which seek out life and feed on it. Finding the true abundance that dogs offer the world means first of all pushing back against the false abundances, the ones that result in the bankruptcy of our inner lives and relationships, and even of our bodies. The ones that are really just scarcity, dressed up. We know that dogs make us better people, and, in doing so, make the world better. And yet, it seems, none of the existing structures that organize life allow for their thriving, which would in turn help human thriving. The life that dogs could make possible for humans has yet to emerge. We are in the strange position of beholding this ancient, original posthuman assemblage as if we were seeing it for the first time. ### About the Speaker **Margret Grebowicz** studies the role of desire in the shaping of physical environments and the ever-changing imaginary that is wilderness. Her recent books include *Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. the End of the World* and the forthcoming *Rescue Me: Dog Abundance, Social Scarcity*. She writes about environment and society for *Slate*, the *Atlantic*, *LA Review of Books*, and other popular venues, and has received one of the inaugural Media Fellowships from the Marc Sanders Foundation, for public-facing writing in philosophy. She is founding editor of a new short books series, called *Practices*, to be published by Duke University Press in 2023. She holds a professorship at the University of Silesia in Poland, and is currently traveling in the Southwestern U.S. for field research on her book in progress, *The Border Sublime*. ### How To Join Please add your name and email address to [this registration page](https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kd-uqqTwiHdHFbJXK7aKeqKUdMN0yC3J0)[.](https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcuc-usrjMiGdPymaJhI0diDUvvsns6FR_5) After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and passcode to the event. If you have any questions, please contact Alex Rehding at . See also:- [ Seminar ](/event-type/seminar) - [ Sound/Text ](/seminars/soundtext) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://mahindrahumanities.harvard.edu/node/1430049/event-feed.ics) Copy link link