This roundtable convenes five leading scholars in the field of animal history who are Advisory Board members or Co-Lead Editors of the new scholarly journal Animal History (launching Fall 2025, Univ. of California Press). They will invite the audience into a lively discussion about the current state, ongoing challenges, and burgeoning opportunities of the field of animal history.

As a discipline that interrogates the lives of nonhumans and the roles and representations of animals in global human pasts, animal history has surged in prominence, challenging historians to think beyond anthropocentric narratives. Now, with the Fall launch of Animal History just around the corner, our panelists will provide a platform for critical reflection on the state of animal history, fostering a discussion that highlights the field's achievements, challenges, and future potential. Beginning with a brief statement of their past, current, or future research, panelists will thereafter explore and invite the audience to comment on topics including: how to cultivate research on less-familiar species or overlooked times, places, and phenomena; how to cultivate more intersectional and diverse research in the field; the work of finding animals in human-made archives; oral history methodologies for the history of human-animal relationships; the opportunities and pitfalls of interdisciplinary animal history; the utility of distinguishing animal history from related disciplines like environmental studies, animal studies, critical animal studies.