It Gives Me Thunder

It Gives Me Thunder (full title: "It Gives Me Thunder": An Investigation of the Emergent Sub-Culture of Furries) is the title of a proposed Master's thesis project by Chris Seabrook, a graduate student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. In his research proposal, Seabrook states:


 * My study proposes to "map" the Furry sub-culture by making a census of how many people participate in Furry activities, both on-line and in conventions or less formal social gatherings. It will include a dictionary of Furry languages. I would like to try to apply the anthropological idea of "para-kinship networks" to the Furry sub-culture, once I understand how extensive and complex it is, through the census mentioned above. For example, I would like to ask Furries who feel that they have a relation with certain animals if they feel a special connection with that animal or with other Furries who become that animal. Once I have interviewed some Furries about their possible para-kinship networks, I may be able to make some observations about how post-modern theories of embodiment and animal identification could be viewed in the light of how Furries relate their experiences in "becoming fur".

The project was first proposed in September, 2006, but delayed due to an illness in the advisory committee. On his website, Seabrook says that the project may be completely reworked both theoretically and methodologically, but he hopes to start work in early 2007.

A version was submitted for defense on Sept 3rd 2010, to Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). The thesis was defended successfully on Friday November the 12th, 2010.

The Supervising Professors where:
 * Professor Brian Given
 * Professor Peter Gose