“Before I read Virtual Menageries, I was looking for a work that did exactly this; bridging animals as mediation tools into the foray amongst other digital media tools and explaining why we’ve become gradually desensitized to their inclusion in our use and attachment with digital technologies. Not just answering though why there were so many cats on the internet but also answering why animals were so often the mediating tool going unwritten in media studies amongst film, art, digital media, computers, and more. I am happy to say it did a beautiful job. After reading the book, I felt the work accomplished exactly what it intended to do. I felt deeply affected by its challenges and urge others to read it in hopes that it provides new insights for others who would like to create positive Anthropocentric impact where they are also able. Berland’s new book is fascinating and a great entry point for those looking to begin developing new biopolitical conversations. “
Michael Warner’s review of Virtual Menageries in Leonardo
” Reading North of Empire, it struck me as ironic that although the study of culture in Canada is fully institutionalized (in disciplinary associations, journals, and doctoral programs), concern for a uniquely Canadian cultural studies has largely been left behind. Not that Canadian content is marginalized, but the explicit conceptual problem of Canada has been left to the spaces between the lines of contemporary case studies, histories, and theory, all done in a global professional context. Perhaps, in moving away from the margins of the academy, cultural studies in Canada has lost touch with the national question. North of Empire stands as a corrective.”
Paul Moore’s review of North of Empire (Ryerson University)