Ted Geier

Dr. Geier is an interdisciplinary cultural studies scholar with specialties in animals and environment, literature, film, and theory. He completed his PhD. in Comparative Literature & Critical Theory at UC Davis and was then a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Rice University 2015-16 Rice Seminars, “After Biopolitics,” with Cary Wolfe and Timothy Morton. In 2020-21, he was Managing Editor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (Oxford UP) prior to beginning his role as Research Editor & Coordinator for the Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Program Animal Markets and Zoonotic Disease research initiative.

While still a graduate student at Davis, he founded an interdisciplinary animal studies research initiative (2013-20) across multiple colleges including Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science, and Humanities, which hosted conference and research events on animal welfare and cultural studies. More recently, he teaches animal studies and social justice themes, and other subjects, in Philosophy, American Studies, Humanities, film, and literary studies at UC Davis, The California State University system, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Current research projects include a brief book-length study of Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men and a larger book project, “Eco_Disney” analyzing Disney’s assertive yet simplified narratives of coexistence, diversity, and ecology via racialized, gendered, and colonizing anthropomorphic designs in, for example, Zootopia, Bambi, and WALL-E. Significant topics include: How Disney films and songs express ecological thought. How the corporate practices, economic and land use impacts, digital presences, and social missions of Disney articulate consumer identities and influence the world. How Disney’s texts—narratives, constructed spaces such as theme parks and immersive animal experiences, real estate, and a dazzling media ecology extending into sports and news—“Disney-fy” the public imaginary of animal concern, environmentalism, and political action across the world (and beyond!).

For additional information including publications visit Dr. Geier's website:  https://nonhumans.org/