Journal articles on the topic 'CAT (Children’s Apperception Test)'

Abstract Introduction The assessment of recovery from burn injury is critical to improving pediatric health. However, there is a lack of brief, burn-specific measures to assess preschool-aged burn survivors’ health outcomes. We developed items pools for a new, parent-reported computer adaptive test based assessment of preschool-aged children’s burn outcomes. Methods Initial item pools were informed by the Preschool LIBRE Conceptual Model based on the International Classification for Children (ICF) and the Burn Outcomes Questionnaires (BOQ 0–5) and generated from a review of existing instruments assessing health and developmental outcomes in children 1–5 years. Candidate items underwent a review process to bin items together based on the underlying construct they assessed. Items were then winnowed down and further refined based on clinical expert consensus meetings. The winnowing process focused on ensuring items assessed abilities and behaviors that could be reliably determined by parent report, were age-relevant, and focused on health and developmental concepts that are important in the assessment of children’s burn recovery. To ensure item quality, we conducted parent cognitive interviews. In final reviews, we standardized item recall periods, response options, verb tense, and literacy demands. Results A total of 9,509 items were identified and extracted. Four item pool domains were established: communication and language development (42 items), physical functioning (53 items), psychological functioning (56 items), and social functioning (37 items). The respective item pools aim to assess: children’s ability to receive meaning and produce language; children’s gross and fine motor abilities; children’s emotions and behavior (internalizing and externalizing behaviors, dysregulation, toileting, response to trauma and resilience); and children’s social participation and abilities. Recall period and response options were refined for consistency for all 188 final items. Conclusions Four item pools were developed assessing four domains 1) communication and language development, 2) physical functioning, 3) psychological functioning and 4) social functioning for preschool-aged children. The item pools are currently being field-tested for the calibration and validation of the Preschool LIBRE CAT Profile. Applicability of Research to Practice This work is relevant to researchers and practitioners evaluating the effects of burn injury on preschool-aged children’s health and developmental outcomes.

Preschool children who attempt novel NV-er compounds (like cat brusher) often misorder the noun and the verb, arguably based on sentential phrasal ordering (e.g., Clark, Hecht, & Mulford, 1986). In this study, we test this argument by replicating Clark’s prediction that children’s attempts will fall into predictable stages based on age and by comparing children’s production of NV-er compounds with another construction that violates sentential phrasal ordering: Verb-ingNoun phrases. Our studies show that we could not replicate the stages described by Clark and that children were more likely to produce Verb-ingNoun constructions in the target order than NV-er. However, the children’s constructions showed a contingency between the order of the elements and the children’s choice of morpheme, suggesting that they were often aiming for the target form. These results suggest that children do not misorder nouns and verbs in NV-er compounds because of phrasal ordering. We discuss possible alternatives for why NV-er compounds are difficult for preschool children.

Helminthiasis can be transmitted from animals to humans (zoonosis). Helminthiasis can cause cutaneus larva migrants, visceral larva migrant, and occular larva migrants. Cats are the most easily animals can found in public areas. cats have a habit of defecating in areas, such as dusty soil, gardens, sand pits, trash cans, and even children’s playgrounds. Proximity of human life with a stray cats is one of the potential that can helminthiasis transmited to humans. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of helminth eggs (species and number) observed in cat feces contaminating public areas in Surabaya. Cross-sectional study have been observations cats existense and examination laboratory of 180 cat fecal samples were collected from canteens, markets, villages, schools, and parks across 5 areas in Surabaya. Helminth eggs present in fecal samples were identified using direct smear, sedimentation, and flotation methodes, and quantified as fecal egg count (eggs per gram of feces) with McMasster method. The test results positive for helminthiasis if found one or more types of helminth eggs in fecal samples. Helminth eggs were present in 68 (37.8%) of the 180 cat fecal samples contaminating public areas in Surabaya. Results of chi-squared analysis confirmed the prevalence of helminth eggs in cat fecal samples contaminating canteen, markets, villages, schools, and parks in Surabaya (p > 0.05). The species causing environmental contamination included Ancylostoma sp. eggs, Toxocara cati eggs, and Toxascaris leonina eggs. The level of environmental contamination, as assessed using ANOVA, was 200 eggs per gram of feces.

AbstractThe aim of the study was to describe the exposure to dog (Can f 1) and cat (Fel d 1) allergens within homes of very young children living with and without pets, and to assess the validity of the interview on pets for predicting the actual exposure to pet allergens in house dust. House dust samples were collected in 275 dwellings from the mattresses, children’s bedroom and kitchen floors. In the laboratory, dust samples were analyzed for Can f 1 and Fel d 1 using monoclonal antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The majority of households (79.3%) had neither a dog nor a cat living in the home over the past 6 months preceding the survey. Dog allergen above 2 μg/g dust were found in 22.5% of homes and 14.2% of homes contained dog allergen above 10 μg/g of house dust. In the total study sample, cat allergen above 1 μg/g of dust were found in 12.7% of homes, and 3.3% of homes contained Fel d 1 levels greater than 8 μg/g of dust. The majority of children (75.0%) with reported ownership of dogs were exposed to Can f 1 levels above 2 μg/g of house dust, and 73.1% of children with cats at home were exposed to Fel d 1 concentrations above 1 μg/g house dust. The results of the study showed that post-test probability of the true exposure to Can f 1 above 2 μg/g dust in houses with positive interview on indoor dogs was 75.0% (95%CI: 61.7–84.8%). On the other hand, the prediction of exposure estimated from the interview data on indoor dogs produced 12.6% of false negatives (95% CI: 9.9–15.8%). Similarly, the post-test probability of the true exposure to Fel d 1 above 1 μg/g dust in houses with positive interview on indoor cats was 73.1% (95%CI: 55.1–85.7%). On the other hand, the interview data produced 6.4% false negatives (95% CI: 4.6–9.0%). In conclusion, the study demonstrated that homes in Poland with pet ownership are important reservoir of Can f 1 and Fel d 1 allergens with levels that might induce allergic symptoms. Even in homes of children without a dog or cat indoors, there was a higher prevalence of pet allergens at the levels above allergic sensitisation thresholds. This may have an important implication for epidemiologic studies on pet related allergy and prevention practice.

AIMS: The study sought to determine the factors associated with prior knowledge about toxoplasmosis, and to assess what participants learned after reading an educational handout. METHODS: Participants were recruited at two sites in California: a public meeting about water quality in Morro Bay; and at the Women Infants and Children’s Nutrition Program office or La Leche League meetings in Yolo County. Demographic differences between sites were compared using Fisher’s exact test, and change in knowledge before and after reading the handout using Mantel-Haenszel methodology. RESULTS: Non-Hispanic white participants were more likely than those of Hispanic ethnicity (62% vs. 20%, respectively) to have prior knowledge about toxoplasmosis. The most common source of information was newspapers (36%). Only 16% had obtained information from medical professionals. After reading the handout, 85% of participants identified Toxoplasma gondii as a parasite and 98% identified cats as the source of oocysts. Ninety-eight percent of participants who read the handout were aware they could acquire infection from cat faeces, 94% from meat, 78% from soil or in utero, and 69% from unwashed vegetables. Fewer (59%) recognized all sources. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about toxoplasmosis increased in all areas evaluated, but gaps remained, particularly with regard to environmental sources of Toxoplasma gondii infection and clinical manifestations of disease. In addition to care in handling cat faeces/litter and avoidance of undercooked meat, healthcare providers counseling pregnant women should emphasize the importance of wearing gloves when gardening, hand washing after handling soil or meat, and rinsing fresh vegetables thoroughly before consumption.

Abstract Introduction Pediatric burn injuries can alter the trajectory of the survivor’s entire life. Patient-centered outcome measures are helpful to capture and assess their unique physical and psychosocial needs and long-term recovery. This study aimed to develop a conceptual model framework to measure outcomes most important to pediatric burn survivors aged 5 to 12 years as a part of the SA-LIBRE5-12 Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) development. Methods This study used a systematic literature review guided by the WHO International Classification of Functioning – Child and Youth. Previously established domains in the American Burn Association/Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Outcomes Questionnaire5-18 further guided framework development. Individual interviews with parents and clinicians were conducted to obtain perspectives on domains most important to assess following a burn injury in children aged 5 to 12 years. One clinician focus group was completed to identify gaps in the preliminary framework, and semi-weekly expert consensus meetings were conducted to solidify the framework. Qualitative data were analyzed by grounded theory methodology in NVivo 12 software. Results The literature review identified 82 articles. Eight parents and seven clinicians participated in individual interviews, four clinicians participated in one focus group, and three consultants were included in the expert consensus meetings. The consultants included a burn surgeon, psychiatrist, and health services researcher. Three major domains emerged from the grounded theory approach, including: 1) Physical Functioning: fine motor and upper extremity, gross motor and lower extremity, pain, skin sensitivity, sleep and fatigue, and physical resilience; 2) Psychological Functioning: cognitive, behavioral, emotional, resilience, and body image; and 3) Family and Social Functioning: school, peer relations, community participation, family relationships, and parental satisfaction. Conclusions The comprehensive literature review, clinician and parent individual interviews, clinician focus group, and expert consensus meetings resulted in a conceptual model framework for parent-reported health outcomes after a burn injury in school-aged children aged 5 to 12 years. The framework will be used to develop item banks for a CAT-based assessment of school-aged children’s health and developmental outcomes.

Aim. To analyse the psychomotor development of children with different outcomes of perinatal hypoxic brain injury and to assess the effectiveness of nootropic therapy in terms of formation of speech skills and cognitive activity. Materials and methods. The study included 136 children having suffered from asphyxia during labour and/or intrauterine hypoxia. The analysis of the neurological pathology and psychomotor development in the children was carried out during the first two years of their life. Neurological deficit was formed in 55 (40.4%) children; the remaining children exhibited functional disorders of the nervous system. The evaluation of the children’s psychomotor development was carried out using the Clinical Adaptive Test/Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale (CAT/ CLAMS). The level of motor development in the children with cerebral palsy was determined using the System for Assessing Global Motor Functions. Results. Functional disorders of the nervous system were manifested in the hyperactivity syndrome, tempo-retarded development and dissociation of speech, cognitive and motor functions. The global nature of hypoxic brain damage in children with neurological deficit determined the predominance of severe disorders in motor functions, cognitive activity and speech development. According to the study, neurological deficit was more often formed in premature babies, but severe impairments in motor functions due to pronounced destructive changes in the brain prevailed in mature babies. The study showed the effectiveness of nootropic drugs in children with functional disorders of the nervous system, as well as in children with neurological deficit without pronounced structural changes in the brain. Conclusion. An analysis of psychomotor development and assessment of the effectiveness of nootropic therapy in young children with perinatal hypoxic brain damage allows the adequacy of the rehabilitation for correction of the revealed violations to be determined.

Tyrime nagrinėjamos agresyvaus elgesio sąsajos su vidinėmis aš ir objektų reprezentacijomis. Siekiama nustatyti, ar skiriasi vaikų, turinčių elgesio sunkumų, vidinės reprezentacijos nuo vaikų, kurie tokiais sunkumais nepasižymi, ir apibūdinti jas, norint geriau suprasti formuojančias vidines struktūras, susijusias su netinkamu, agresyviu vaikų elgesiu. Buvo tiriami 7–10 metų berniukai, turintys elgesio sunkumų, ir lyginami su tokio paties amžiaus berniukais, nepasižyminčiais elgesio ar emocijų sunkumais. Iš viso tirta 30 berniukų: 20 iš klinikinės imties ir 10 – kontrolinės. Eksternalūs sunkumai matuoti Vaikų elgesio klausimynu (CBCL 6/18). Reprezentacijoms tirti naudotos projekcinės metodikos: Vaikų apercepcijos testas (CAT) ir Šeimos kinetinis piešinys. Projekcinė medžiaga analizuota ir vertinta pagal Socialinio supratimo ir objektų ryšių skalę (Westen et al., 2002) ir Visuminio vertinimo skales (Fury et al., 1997). Tyrimo duomenimis, berniukų, turinčių elgesio sunkumų, vidinės aš ir objektų reprezentacijos skiriasi nuo berniukų, nepasižyminčių elgesio sunkumais. Klinikinės imties vaikų reprezentacijos mažiau diferencijuotos, negatyvaus emocinio tono, menkesnis šių vaikų įsitraukimas į santykius, prastesnis vertybių ir moralinių standartų išsivystymas ir socialinio priežastingumo supratimas. Elgesio sunkumų turintys berniukai objektus (kitus) mato kaip abejingus, atstumiančius, nepastovius, pažeidžiamus, nepatikimus, negalinčius suteikti pagalbos. Vidinis aš reprezentuojamas kaip pažeidžiamas, atstumtas, nepriklausantis šeimai. Tyrime taikytos projekcinės metodikos ir gautos medžiagos vertinimai leidžia numatyti, kurie vaikai turi elgesio sunkumų, o kurie ne. Elgesio sunkumų turinčių vaikų vidinės reprezentacijos pasižymi tam tikrais specifiniais bruožais. Per naują patyrimą ilgalaikėje psichoterapijoje gali formuotis adaptyvesnės vidinės struktūros.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: berniukų elgesio sunkumai, aš ir kito vidinės reprezentacijos, projekcinės metodikos.Mental Self and Object Representations of 7–10-Year-Old Boys with Behavior DifficultiesBieliauskaitė R., Kuraitė E. SummaryThis study looked into the links between the external difficulties and the internal “self” and objects representations. The aim of the study was to compare the internal representations of the children with the behavioral difficulties to children with no behavioral difficulties in order to gain a better understanding of the inner structures which could be linked to inappropriate and aggressive behavior. Boys with behavioral difficulties aged 7–10-year-old were recruited and compared with the boys of the same age with no behavioral difficulties. 20 boys from the clinical sample and 10 boys from the control group – 30 boys in total – were assessed. The measure used to assess external difficulties was Child Behavior Checklist. Projective tools such as Children Apperception Test and Kinetic Family Drawing were applied to assess the representations. The results of the projective methods were analyzed with the “Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale“ (SCORS) and “The Global Rating Scale”. According to SCORS four dimensions of internal representations were assessed: complexity of representations of people, affective quality of representations, emotional investment in relationships, values and moral standards and understanding social causality. The study results show that inner “self” and object representations of the boys with behavioral difficulties are different from the ones of the boys without behavioral difficulties. Representations of the clinical sample are less differentiated, have a negative emotional tone. These boys also show a lower capacity for emotional investment in relationships and moral standards, an impaired understanding of social causality. Boys with the behavioral difficulties see others as indifferent, rejecting, vulnerable, unreliable, inconsistent and not being able to help. Their inner “self” is represented as vulnerable and rejected, unattached to his family. The projective method used in the study and analysis of the data allows us to predict behavioral difficulties. Mental representations of children with behavioral difficulties have specific characteristics. The different experiences in long term psychotherapy could transform those characteristics into more adaptable ones.Key words: boys with behavior difficulties, mental self and object representations, projective tools.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar um protocolo de avaliação cognitivo- comportamentalutilizando o Children Apperception Test (versão Animal e versão Humana), o Baralho dosProblemas e o Baralho das Emoções, a fim de identificar problemas no controle dos impulsospresentes no Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade (TDAH), e a natureza darelação de criança portadora de TDAH com as figuras parentais, quando uma delas é alcoolista.Para isso realizou-se um estudo de caso único exploratório, no qual na fase de avaliação foramaplicados o CAT-H, o CAT-A, o Baralho dos Problemas e o Baralho das Emoções em uma criança com 8 anos, cujo pai era alcoolista. A análise dos resultados foi feita com base emestatísticas descritivas do desempenho da criança no Baralho dos Problemas - predominânciade sinais e sintomas de hiperatividade (90%) e ansiedade (90%) - e no Baralho das Emoções- teimosia (30%); desgostar (20%) e tristeza (30%). Comparou-se, ainda, o desempenho dacriança no CAT-A com os temas apresentados pelo grupo normativo de sua faixa etária descritono manual do teste. Foi realizada uma prova de concordância para categorias de crenças centrais(Kappa=0,81) e elementos da tríade cognitiva (Kappa= 0,87) observadas nas narrativas obtidasno CAT-A e CAT-H. Este estudo de caso permitiu verificar que o CAT-A e CAT-H, embora produzam histórias diferentes da perspectiva de seu conteúdo narrativo, avaliaram igualmente crenças centrais ligadas ao desamor, desamparo e desvalor, além de viabilizarem a verificaçãode aspectos da tríade cognitiva: visão de si revelando uma autoestima rebaixada, e uma visãodo outro como alguém crítico. Esses instrumentos parecem auxiliar na conceitualização decaso numa perspectiva cognitivo-comportamental de crianças com sintomas externalizantesligados ao TDAH, especialmente em um contexto de conflito familiar relacionado ao abuso de álcool.

Time use studies uncover the organization of daily routine of families of children with disabilities. The objective of this study is to identify determinants of time spent caring for children/adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and typical development (TD). Participants were caregivers of children/adolescents with/without disability. Structural equation modeling tested a proposed model of time spent in child care. The variables in the model were as follows: questionnaire (families’ socioeconomic status [SES]), children’s functioning (The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory–Computer Adaptive Test [PEDI-CAT]); hours of care (daily diaries), number of adaptations used, and help with child care (parents’ report). Distinct variable combinations explained 78% of the variation in the time to care (TD model), followed by 42% (ASD) and 29% (CP). Adaptations indirectly affected time to care through its effect on functioning (CP); family’s SES affected functioning through its effect on adaptation use (ASD). In conclusion, knowledge of factors affecting caregivers’ time spent on children’s care help occupational therapists implement family-centered strategies.

Abstract Pediatric burn injuries can alter the trajectory of the survivor’s entire life. Patient-centered outcome measures are helpful to assess unique physical and psychosocial needs and long-term recovery. This study aimed to develop a conceptual framework to measure pediatric burn outcomes in survivors aged 5 to 12 years as a part of the School-Aged Life Impact Burn Recovery Evaluation Computer Adaptive Test (SA-LIBRE5–12 CAT) development. This study conducted a systematic literature review guided by the WHO International Classification of Functioning—Child and Youth and domains in the American Burn Association/Shriners Hospitals for Children Burn Outcomes Questionnaire5–18. Interviews with eight parents and seven clinicians were conducted to identify important domains in child recovery. One clinician focus group with four clinicians was completed to identify gaps in the preliminary framework, and semiweekly expert consensus meetings were conducted with three experts to solidify the framework. Qualitative data were analyzed by grounded theory methodology. Three major thematic outcome domains emerged: 1) Physical Functioning: fine motor and upper extremity, gross motor and lower extremity, pain, skin symptoms, sleep and fatigue, and physical resilience; 2) Psychological Functioning: cognitive, behavioral, emotional, resilience, and body image; and 3) Family and Social Functioning: family relationships, and parental satisfaction, school, peer relations, and community participation. The framework will be used to develop item banks for a CAT-based assessment of school-aged children’s health and developmental outcomes, which will be designed for clinical and research use to optimize interventions, personalize care, and improve long-term health outcomes for burned children.

As the name suggests, the humanities is largely a study of the human condition, in which history sits as a discipline concerned with the past. Environmental history is a new field that brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to consider the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. Critiques of anthropocentrism that place humans at the centre of the universe or make assessments through an exclusive human perspective provide a challenge to scholars to rethink our traditional biases against the nonhuman world. The movement towards nonhumanism or posthumanism, however, does not seem to have had much of an impression on history as a discipline. What would a nonhumanist history look like if we re-centred the historical narrative around pigs? There are histories of pigs as food (see for example, The Cambridge History of Food which has a chapter on “Hogs”). There are food histories that feature pork in terms of its relationship to multiethnic identity (such as Donna Gabaccia’s We Are What We Eat) and examples made of pigs to promote ethical eating (Singer). Pigs are central to arguments about dietary rules and what motivates them (Soler; Dolander). Ancient pig DNA has also been employed in studies on human migration and colonisation (Larson et al.; Durham University). Pigs are also widely used in a range of products that would surprise many of us. In 2008, Christien Meindertsma spent three years researching the products made from a single pig. Among some of the more unexpected results were: ammunition, medicine, photographic paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, cigarettes, hair conditioner and even bio diesel. Likewise, Fergus Henderson, who coined the term ‘nose to tail eating’, uses a pig on the front cover of the book of that name to suggest the extraordinary and numerous potential of pigs’ bodies. However, my intention here is not to pursue a discussion of how parts of their bodies are used, rather to consider a reorientation of the historical narrative to place pigs at the centre of stories of our co-evolution, in order to see what their history might say about humans and our relationships with them. This is underpinned by recognition of the inter-relationality of humans and animals. The relationships between wild boar and pigs with humans has been long and diverse. In a book exploring 10,000 years of interaction, Anton Ervynck and Peter Rowley-Conwy argue that pigs have been central to complex cultural developments in human societies and they played an important role in human migration patterns. The book is firmly grounded within the disciplines of zoology, anthropology and archaeology and contributes to an understanding of the complex and changing relationship humans have historically shared with wild boar and domestic pigs. Naturalist Lyall Watson also explores human/pig relationships in The Whole Hog. The insights these approaches offer for the discipline of history are valuable (although overlooked) but, more importantly, such scholarship also challenges a humanist perspective that credits humans exclusively with historical change and suggests, moreover, that we did it alone. Pigs occupy a special place in this history because of their likeness to humans, revealed in their use in transplant technology, as well as because of the iconic and paradoxical status they occupy in our lives. As Ervynck and Rowley-Conwy explain, “On the one hand, they are praised for their fecundity, their intelligence, and their ability to eat almost anything, but on the other hand, they are unfairly derided for their apparent slovenliness, unclean ways, and gluttonous behaviour” (1). Scientist Niamh O’Connell was struck by the human parallels in the complex social structures which rule the lives of pigs and people when she began a research project on pig behaviour at the Agricultural Research Institute at Hillsborough in County Down (Cassidy). According to O’Connell, pigs adopt different philosophies and lifestyle strategies to get the most out of their life. “What is interesting from a human perspective is that low-ranking animals tend to adopt one of two strategies,” she says. “You have got the animals who accept their station in life and then you have got the other ones that are continually trying to climb, and as a consequence, their life is very stressed” (qtd. in Cassidy). The closeness of pigs to humans is the justification for their use in numerous experiments. In the so-called ‘pig test’, code named ‘Priscilla’, for instance, over 700 pigs dressed in military uniforms were used to study the effects of nuclear testing at the Nevada (USA) test site in the 1950s. In When Species Meet, Donna Haraway draws attention to the ambiguities and contradictions promoted by the divide between animals and humans, and between nature and culture. There is an ethical and critical dimension to this critique of human exceptionalism—the view that “humanity alone is not [connected to the] spatial and temporal web of interspecies dependencies” (11). There is also that danger that any examination of our interdependencies may just satisfy a humanist preoccupation with self-reflection and self-reproduction. Given that pigs cannot speak, will they just become the raw material to reproduce the world in human’s own image? As Haraway explains: “Productionism is about man the tool-maker and -user, whose highest technical production is himself […] Blinded by the sun, in thrall to the father, reproduced in the sacred image of the same, his rewards is that he is self-born, an auto telic copy. That is the mythos of enlightenment and transcendence” (67). Jared Diamond acknowledges the mutualistic relationship between pigs and humans in Guns, Germs and Steel and the complex co-evolutionary path between humans and domesticated animals but his account is human-centric. Human’s relationships with pigs helped to shape human history and power relations and they spread across the world with human expansion. But questioning their utility as food and their enslavement to this cause was not part of the account. Pigs have no voice in the histories we write of them and so they can appear as passive objects in their own pasts. Traces of their pasts are available in humanity’s use of them in, for example, the sties built for them and the cooking implements used to prepare meals from them. Relics include bones and viruses, DNA sequences and land use patterns. Historians are used to dealing with subjects that cannot speak back, but they have usually left ample evidence of what they have said. In the process of writing, historians attempt to perform the miracle, as Curthoys and Docker have suggested, of restoration; bringing the people and places that existed in the past back to life (7). Writing about pigs should also attempt to bring the animal to life, to understand not just their past but also our own culture. In putting forward the idea of an alternative history that starts with pigs, I am aware of both the limits to such a proposal, and that most people’s only contact with pigs is through the meat they buy at the supermarket. Calls for a ban on intensive pig farming (RSPCA, ABC, AACT) might indeed have shocked people who imagine their dinner comes from the type of family farm featured in the movie Babe. Baby pigs in factory farms would have been killed a long time before the film’s sheep dog show (usually at 3 to 4 months of age). In fact, because baby pigs do grow so fast, 48 different pigs were used to film the role of the central character in Babe. While Babe himself may not have been aware of the relationship pigs generally have to humans, the other animals were very cognisant of their function. People eat pigs, even if they change the name of the form it takes in order to do so:Cat: You know, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m not sure if you realize how much the other animals are laughing at you for this sheep dog business. Babe: Why would they do that? Cat: Well, they say that you’ve forgotten that you’re a pig. Isn't that silly? Babe: What do you mean? Cat: You know, why pigs are here. Babe: Why are any of us here? Cat: Well, the cow’s here to be milked, the dogs are here to help the Boss's husband with the sheep, and I’m here to be beautiful and affectionate to the boss. Babe: Yes? Cat: [sighs softly] The fact is that pigs don’t have a purpose, just like ducks don’t have a purpose. Babe: [confused] Uh, I—I don’t, uh ... Cat: Alright, for your own sake, I’ll be blunt. Why do the Bosses keep ducks? To eat them. So why do the Bosses keep a pig? The fact is that animals don’t seem to have a purpose really do have a purpose. The Bosses have to eat. It’s probably the most noble purpose of all, when you come to think about it. Babe: They eat pigs? Cat: Pork, they call it—or bacon. They only call them pigs when they’re alive (Noonan). Babe’s transformation into a working pig to round up the sheep makes him more useful. Ferdinand the duck tried to do the same thing by crowing but was replaced by an alarm clock. This is a common theme in children’s stories, recalling Charlotte’s campaign to praise Wilbur the pig in order to persuade the farmer to let him live in E. B. White’s much loved children’s novel, Charlotte’s Web. Wilbur is “some pig”, “terrific”, “radiant” and “humble”. In 1948, four years before Charlotte’s Web, White had published an essay “Death of a Pig”, in which he fails to save a sick pig that he had bought in order to fatten up and butcher. Babe tried to present an alternative reality from a pig’s perspective, but the little pig was only spared because he was more useful alive than dead. We could all ask the question why are any of us here, but humans do not have to contemplate being eaten to justify their existence. The reputation pigs have for being filthy animals encourages distaste. In another movie, Pulp Fiction, Vincent opts for flavour, but Jules’ denial of pig’s personalities condemns them to insignificance:Vincent: Want some bacon? Jules: No man, I don’t eat pork. Vincent: Are you Jewish? Jules: Nah, I ain’t Jewish, I just don’t dig on swine, that’s all. Vincent: Why not? Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don’t eat filthy animals. Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood. Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know ’cause I wouldn’t eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That’s a filthy animal. I ain’t eat nothin’ that ain’t got sense enough to disregard its own feces [sic]. Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces. Jules: I don’t eat dog either. Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? Jules: I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way. Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true? Jules: Well we’d have to be talkin’ about one charming motherfuckin’ pig. I mean he’d have to be ten times more charmin’ than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I’m sayin’? In the 1960s television show Green Acres, Arnold was an exceptional pig who was allowed to do whatever he wanted. He was talented enough to write his own name and play the piano and his attempts at painting earned him the nickname “Porky Picasso”. These talents reflected values that are appreciated, and so he was. The term “pig” is, however, chiefly used a term of abuse, however, embodying traits we abhor—gluttony, obstinence, squealing, foraging, rooting, wallowing. Making a pig of yourself is rarely honoured. Making a pig of the humanities, however, could be a different story. As a historian I love to forage, although I use white gloves rather than a snout. I have rubbed my face and body on tree trunks in the service of forestry history and when the temperature rises I also enjoy wallowing, rolling from side to side rather than drawing a conclusion. More than this, however, pigs provide a valid means of understanding key historical transitions that define modern society. Significant themes in modern history—production, religion, the body, science, power, the national state, colonialism, gender, consumption, migration, memory—can all be understood through a history of our relationships with pigs. Pigs play an important role in everyday life, but their relationship to the economic, social, political and cultural matters discussed in general history texts—industrialisation, the growth of nation states, colonialism, feminism and so on—are generally ignored. However “natural” this place of pigs may seem, culture and tradition profoundly shape their history and their own contribution to those forces has been largely absent in history. What, then, would the contours of such a history that considered the intermeshing of humans and pigs look like? The intermeshing of pigs in early human history Agricultural economies based on domestic animals began independently in different parts of the world, facilitating increases in population and migration. Evidence for long-term genetic continuity between modern and ancient Chinese domestic pigs has been established by DNA sequences. Larson et al. have made an argument for five additional independent domestications of indigenous wild boar populations: in India, South East Asia and Taiwan, which they use to develop a picture of both pig evolution and the development and spread of early farmers in the Far East. Domestication itself involves transformation into something useful to animals. In the process, humans became transformed. The importance of the Fertile Crescent in human history has been well established. The area is attributed as the site for a series of developments that have defined human history—urbanisation, writing, empires, and civilisation. Those developments have been supported by innovations in food production and animal husbandry. Pig, goats, sheep and cows were all domesticated very early in the Fertile Crescent and remain four of the world’s most important domesticated mammals (Diamond 141). Another study of ancient pig DNA has concluded that the earliest domesticated pigs in Europe, believed to be descended from European wild boar, were introduced from the Middle East. The research, by archaeologists at Durham University, sheds new light on the colonisation of Europe by early farmers, who brought their animals with them. Keith Dobney explains:Many archaeologists believe that farming spread through the diffusion of ideas and cultural exchange, not with the direct migration of people. However, the discovery and analysis of ancient Middle Eastern pig remains across Europe reveals that although cultural exchange did happen, Europe was definitely colonised by Middle Eastern farmers. A combination of rising population and possible climate change in the ‘fertile crescent’, which put pressure on land and resources, made them look for new places to settle, plant their crops and breed their animals and so they rapidly spread west into Europe (ctd in ScienceDaily). Middle Eastern farmers colonised Europe with pigs and in the process transformed human history. Identity as a porcine theme Religious restrictions on the consumption of pigs come from the same area. Such restrictions exist in Jewish dietary laws (Kashrut) and in Muslim dietary laws (Halal). The basis of dietary laws has been the subject of much scholarship (Soler). Economic and health and hygiene factors have been used to explain the development of dietary laws historically. The significance of dietary laws, however, and the importance attached to them can be related to other purposes in defining and expressing religious and cultural identity. Dietary laws and their observance may have been an important factor in sustaining Jewish identity despite the dispersal of Jews in foreign lands since biblical times. In those situations, where a person eats in the home of someone who does not keep kosher, the lack of knowledge about your host’s ingredients and the food preparation techniques make it very difficult to keep kosher. Dietary laws require a certain amount of discipline and self-control, and the ability to make distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, in everyday life, thus elevating eating into a religious act. Alternatively, people who eat anything are often subject to moral judgments that may also lead to social stigmatisation and discrimination. One of the most powerful and persuasive discourses influencing current thinking about health and bodies is the construction of an ‘obesity epidemic’, critiqued by a range of authors (see for example, Wright & Harwood). As omnivores who appear indiscriminate when it comes to food, pigs provide an image of uncontrolled eating, made visible by the body as a “virtual confessor”, to use Elizabeth Grosz’s term. In Fat Pig, a production by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2006, women are reduced to being either fat pigs or shrieking shallow women. Fatuosity, a blog by PhD student Jackie Wykes drawing on her research on fat and sexual subjectivity, provides a review of the play to describe the misogyny involved: “It leaves no options for women—you can either be a lovely person but a fat pig who will end up alone; or you can be a shrill bitch but beautiful, and end up with an equally obnoxious and shallow male counterpart”. The elision of the divide between women and pigs enacted by such imagery also creates openings for new modes of analysis and new practices of intervention that further challenge humanist histories. Such interventions need to make visible other power relations embedded in assumptions about identity politics. Following the lead of feminists and postcolonial theorists who have challenged the binary oppositions central to western ideology and hierarchical power relations, critical animal theorists have also called into question the essentialist and dualist assumptions underpinning our views of animals (Best). A pig history of the humanities might restore the central role that pigs have played in human history and evolution, beyond their exploitation as food. Humans have constructed their story of the nature of pigs to suit themselves in terms that are specieist, racist, patriarchal and colonialist, and failed to grasp the connections between the oppression of humans and other animals. The past and the ways it is constructed through history reflect and shape contemporary conditions. In this sense, the past has a powerful impact on the present, and the way this is re-told, therefore, also needs to be situated, historicised and problematicised. The examination of history and society from the standpoint of (nonhuman) animals offers new insights on our relationships in the past, but it might also provide an alternative history that restores their agency and contributes to a different kind of future. 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