A Mouse in a Cage

A Mouse in a Cage takes us into the practices and meanings of nonhuman humanitarianism, not as an abstract concept, but as existentially lived in animal technicians’ relationships with animals, colleagues, the visiting sociologist, and the world. By innovatively juxtaposing rich ethnography and fiction, Carrie Friese complicates and deepens our understanding of what it means and takes to care in hierarchical relationships. From the very first pages, we want to stay in her universe and view the world through her careful descriptions and intriguing analytical takes. A Mouse in a Cage crafts new language for the complexity of interspecies relations and care. * Mette Nordahl Svendsen, author of Near Human: Border Zones of Species, Life, and Belonging *
In this study from a renowned scholar of animals in science, Carrie Friese offers astute and imaginative observations regarding the limitations and possibilities of care in UK laboratories, wherein a ‘more-than-human humanitarianism’ analytical anchor advances refreshing challenges to human-centered understandings of interspecies responsibility. Friese’s noteworthy decision to interweave ethnographic knowledge with works of fiction opens up new terrain for troubling the boundaries of gender, race, and class in science.. This book is a must read for any scholar interested in the quotidian complexities of laboratory worlds. * Lesley A. Sharp, author of Animal Ethos: The Morality of Human-Animal Encounters in Experimental Lab Science *
This ground-breaking book makes visible how mice bred, modified, nurtured and killed for biomedical research have become central actors in progressing human health and society. By situating thick description of actual mouse lives alongside the people involved in the care and death of these animals, the book’s major contribution is to unpick the political, economic, scientific, ethical, moral and social entanglements underpinning the dependence of science on backgrounding the animals that make animal models possible. Specifically, Friese brilliantly reveals how humanitarian ethics had to change and develop for the creation and use of these ‘lab’ animals to become possible at the international scale it is today. This work is huge in scope and unique – no other study has helped us see so clearly all that we owe to - and how much we depend upon and even demand of - these mice. A Mouse in a Cage is a tour de force. * Joanna Latimer, co-editor of Intimate Entanglements *
Friese has made a novel and thought-provoking contribution to the highly controversial subject of the use of animals in scientific research. Instead of re-treading the usual path of debating the rights and wrongs of animal research in of itself, Friese has undertaken many hours of interviews with researchers and animal caregivers and presents a new narrative based on the experiences of those who are directly involved in the care and use of research animals. Friese interweaves these interviews with reflections on themes in fiction that echo the ethical and emotional challenges that are faced by those who care for animals in a context that is seen by some to be indefensible. The result is remarkable, making this the most engaging book on this issue I have read for many years. * Elliot Lilley, Programme Manager at National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research *