Buzkashi (literally "goat pulling"), which is thought to have originated among the tribes of Northern Afghanistan who would raid each other’s camps and ride away with stolen livestock, is not for the feint of heart.

Contrary to common assumptions, questions about the value and nature of animals were taken seriously in pre-modern thought. Scholars have explored ancient Greek and Indian discussions of animals, but little attention has been paid to the contribution of Islamic culture, which produced for instance philosophical and scientific works on animals, moralizing fables featuring animal characters, and treatises on veterinary medicine and on the types and uses of animals. The project will uncover the changing conceptions of animals revealed in such works, taking an innovative approach which explores the interaction between descriptive and normative accounts of animals.

Questions about Islam, homosexuality, and othering are particularly salient in this age of increasingly violent white nationalism and right-wing homophobic rhetoric. Studying how people find ways to respond to Islamophobia, racism, and homophobia together can help us understand the potential for strategic alliance formations among stigmatized groups.