We are pleased to announce that the Animal History article, “Toward an Animated History of Technology,” by Christian Zumbrägel, has won the Society for the History of Technology’s (SHOT) 2026 Tarr Envirotech Article Prize.

Animal History Co-Lead Editor Daniel Vandersommers says of the prize-winning article, “With astute historiographical reflection and a palpable desire to push the history of technology toward new horizons, Christian has fashioned a must-read essay for any scholar or student interested in how animals and technologies have overlapped across the centuries. “Toward an Animated History of Technology” is a timely and lively read with humbling implications, as well as a great introduction to an entire special issue on animals and the history of technology.”

What happens to the history of technology when we take animals seriously as agents rather than as objects of control? Christian Zumbrägel’s compelling essay answers by proposing an “animated history of technology” — one that treats technological change as the product of dynamic interactions among humans, animals, artifacts, and infrastructures.

—2026 Tarr Envirotech Article Prize Committee

https://online.ucpress.edu/ah/article/2/3/5/218429/Toward-an-Animated-History-of-TechnologyA