Music and Cats / Book of Abstracts - Catalog - Page 40
Abstracts
Panel 4: Animal Advocacy
14:45 – 15:00
The Life of Stray Cats,
Street Punk and DIY
Oskar Szwabowski, Piotr Zańko and Dominika Gruntkowska /
Pomeranian University in Słupsk
Our presentation considers what connects street
punk with cat existence. We would like to address
the fact that the categories used for description of
excluded people and poverty emerging from the
lyrics of street punk songs, can also be applied to
the description of stray cats. The relationship we
are examining exposes class divisions that affect
both humans and non-humans. Furthermore,
referring to the work of the Polish street punk
band The Analogs, we discuss selected forms of
support that the band provides to stray cats (e.g.,
benefit T-shirts and merch, benefit concerts
for Kocie Warpno Association). The reference
to a street punk band from Poland opens us up
to locality. This is important due to the
socio-cultural dimension of the existence of
cats and due to the dominant practices of
helping cats in Poland. Most of which take the
form of grassroots activities undertaken by
citizens, not by the state. This in turn
combines the commitment to stray cats with
the punk DIY ethos.
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