Susan McHugh speaks at the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies

Susan McHugh, Ph.D., Ludcke Chair of Arts and Sciences and associate professor of English, gave an invited lecture as part of the Animals in the Renaissance Conference co-hosted by the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society and the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies on Nov. 5.  

Titled "Beastly Mothering and Beast Mothers: Sex, Species, and Early Modern Mother Love," McHugh's talk focused on how animal representations factor into changing social ideals of maternity in the Renaissance, linking her historical research for her books Dog and Animal Stories with her current investigations into contemporary literary tropes of erasure.