Out of the cage

Is an antelope a document? Are animals symbols? Is a zoo a museum?

These are a few of the questions that frame fourth-year PhD student Dominic Dongilli’s research. As a student in the American Studies program, Dongilli explores the relationship between zoos and American culture. Over the last year, he’s had the opportunity to expand his research with access to the Smithsonian Institutions’ collection of resources through the Big Ten Academic Alliance Smithsonian Fellowship.

Dongilli’s path did not begin with the humanities. Instead, he studied biology at Creighton University with the goal of becoming a zookeeper. Dongilli had been working at zoos since seventh grade through a local volunteer program, and when he got to Creighton, he quickly started working at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium. 

“I was always interested in zoos and how they functioned as museums,” Dongilli says. “Zoos were spaces where we could not only learn about the science but also engage so many aspects of history and culture.”

Dongilli worked at the Omaha Zoo for four years, and during this time, he became aware of how values and culture shape the public’s understanding of a zoo. His perceptions were shaped through his own interactions with the animals. While working with the great apes, Dongilli recalled how the enclosure for orangutans was originally designed for giant pandas. 

“My day-to-day job was working with those animals and trying to take care of them in a space that was never designed for them. Because of broader cultural debates and political interactions, this is where they ended up,” he says. 

Dongilli shared these observations with his undergraduate advisor who was a professor of American Studies. 

“I landed on Iowa because of Kim Marra who is a professor emerita of theater and performing arts and American studies. Her research focuses on the intertwined histories of humans and horses in New York City,” he says. 

Lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my!

At Iowa, Dongilli pursued both his PhD and a Master’s of Library and Information Science. The School of Library and Information Science attracted him for two reasons. The first was the approach to research.

For Dongilli, research has been a focal point for discussion and community building. 

“I joke that research is my community-building language,” he says. “People think research is isolating. I take a different approach. To me, it’s a mode of communication that has a specific purpose and speaks to goals, expectations, and values.”

The second reason library sciences suited him was the discipline’s approach to understanding animals. Typically, animals are thought of as symbols, representing the emotions felt or their meaning within culture, or they are thought of as a scientific species. Neither of these academic approaches fit with Dongilli’s ideas. 

“There’s a famous idea that an antelope is a document,” Dongilli explains. “It interrogates the idea of how library and information science conceptualizes the objects it manages and collects.”

For Dongilli, these discussions align with his understanding of zoos. Though often not considered museums, zoo animals are a type of collection and are often sent to natural history museums after they die. Dongilli wanted to be a part of the conversations about how classifications and descriptions contribute to understanding. 

“The central premise of my dissertation is that zoos are knowledge institutions, much like an art museum is a knowledge institution or a library is a knowledge institution,” Dongilli shares. “Library and information science allowed me to have some of those broader conversations about how we understand knowledge and information in American culture.” 

A new enclosure

In 2023, Dongilli was able to take his research to new heights as a recipient of the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Smithsonian Fellowship. The fellowship is a one-year program that allows doctoral candidates at Big Ten institutions to connect with advisers at the Smithsonian to further develop their dissertations. 

Over the last year, Dongilli has been living and researching amongst the Smithsonian’s wide collections in Washington, D.C. He’s been able to visit the very zoo his dissertation is based upon, the Smithsonian National Zoo, and dive into the archives. 

“Your data and your evidence grounds your research. Spending two weeks collecting data compared to a year collecting data is going to radically shape your abilities to engage and develop meaning with your project,” he explains. “I’m writing about these historical phenomena, but I can walk down the street to the zoo and see the spaces where they played out.”

Dongilli’s fellowship at the Smithsonian has given him a variety of opportunities including the opportunity to be featured on an episode of NPR. 

In the hawks nest

For Dongilli, the American Studies department has become home for him as it often is for people who do not see themselves in other disciplines. Specifically, he admires the department’s encouragement for their students to explore their own interests.

“When I told my advisors I was going to register for a graduate seminar in the biology department, they told me it sounded great,” he recalls. “They’ve asked questions about how things fit into my research, but they’ve never told me no.”

Dongilli encourages graduate students to stay inquisitive. 

“Your strongest insight is your ability to ask questions, and there are always more questions to be asked. Your ability to perpetually diver deeper is a strength,” he says. 

Dongilli will graduate with his PhD in December 2024. Ultimately, he hopes that his research will influence how the public understands and thinks about animals. 

“Zoos, their history, and the role they continue to play in the numerous cultures of the United States is much more complex than we choose to acknowledge,” Dongilli says. “I want to acknowledge and share this in the hopes that people will start to understand our complex relationships with animals.”