
Elizabeth Melampy
Special guest
Elizabeth MeLampy is a Harvard-educated lawyer, writer, and animal rights advocate whose work explores the complex relationships between humans and animals. Her debut book, Forget the Camel: The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say About Being Human, offers an immersive journey through events like the Iditarod, Groundhog Day, and rattlesnake roundups, examining how these traditions reflect our cultural values and treatment of animals.(Elizabeth MeLampy, Psychology Today)
Elizabeth's passion for animal advocacy was influenced by her grandmother, anthropologist Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence, who pioneered the study of human-animal interactions. Building on this legacy, Elizabeth has contributed to animal law scholarship, served as an Emerging Scholar Fellow at the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, and worked with Harvard's Animal Law & Policy Program. Her legal experience includes clerkships with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Federal District Court in Arizona, as well as litigation work with the Natural Resources Defense Council.(Psychology Today, Goodreads)
Through her writing and advocacy, Elizabeth challenges audiences to reconsider the stories we tell about animals and to envision a more compassionate future. She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts.(Psychology Today, Water Street Bookstore, Inc.)
For more information, visit her website at elizabethmelampy.com.
Elizabeth Melampy has been a guest on 1 episode.
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Episode 289: Forget the Camel: The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say about Being Human, with Elizabeth Melampy
May 14th, 2025 | 47 mins 28 secs
In this episode of Give and Take, Scott talks with Elizabeth MeLampy, author of Forget the Camel: Animals, Symbols, and the Stories We Tell. From rattlesnake roundups in Texas to lobster boils on the Maine coast, and the curious case of a certain Pennsylvanian groundhog, MeLampy explores the surprising ways animals help us build communities, confront our fears, and make meaning in a messy world. Together, they discuss how rituals involving creatures both wild and domestic reveal our deepest cultural myths—about nature, class, history, and ourselves.