My research centres on the intersection of film and intelligence in nature in general and animal subjectivity in particular. My MA thesis was On Animal Subjectivity in Contemporary American Film, supervised by doc. Erik Sherman Roraback, D. Phil (Oxon), and my current PhD research continues to probe into the complexity of animal subjectivity in the context of multispecies documentaries and the cinematic Umwelt.

My other academic interests include:

• Non-human subjectivity in philosophy and critical theory

• Multispecies documentaries

• Environmental ethics and film

• Film theory

• Non-anthropocentric film philosophy

• The philosophy of David Abram, particularly, nature and the more-than-human world

• Animal ontology

• Post-humanist theory

• Eco-film-criticism

• Eco-phenomenology

• Critical animal studies

• Ecocinema

I attempt to highlight films (and filmmakers!) that transcend human-centered ideological frameworks and provide a different way of seeing and looking at film and its subjects. Not as a medium, which has been historically exploiting animals, literally and figuratively, but as an art form which could gesture beyond the screen to a wider set of issues, political and ecological.

Contact:

botakoilybayeva@gmail.com