ANIMALS AND SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIESChapter 1: Human-Animal Studies

Copyright Margo DeMello and Columbia University Press, 2012

What is Human-Animal Studies?

Animals of all kinds have figured prominently in both the material foundations and the ideological underpinnings of human societies.

the spaces that non-human animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds

the interactions humans have with other animals.

The symbolic uses of non-human animalsthe ways in which animal lives intersect with

human societies. The ways in which humans are dependent on

other animalsThe ways in which humans construct, in part,

their identities through other animals

HUMAN ANIMAL STUDIES EXPLORES…

Human-Animal Studies is the study of the interactions and relationships between human and non-human animals.

Anthrozoology is the scientifi c study of human-animal interaction, and the human-animal bond.

Ethology is the scientifi c study of animal behavior. Critical Animal Studies is an academic fi eld of study

dedicated to the abolition of animal exploitation, oppression, and domination.

Animal Studies is usually used to refer to the scientifi c study of, or medical use of, non-human animals, as in medical research. It is sometimes also used as a synonym for HAS, especially in the humanities.

Animal Rights is a philosophical position as well as a social movement which advocates for providing non-human animals with moral consideration and, often, basic rights.

SOME DEFINITIONS

Name some of the ways humans and animals’ lives intersect

We eat them

We wear them

We use them for medical research and testing

We use them to provide services to us

They are part of our religious beliefs and practices

We watch them on TV

And at the circus, zoo, and marine mammal park

And in the movies

And online

They are in our art

In our symbols

In our books

And in our language

We live with them as family members

 Multi-DisciplinaryInter-DisciplinaryHas Connections to Animal Advocacy Movement

Began in the 1970s with philosophical texts: Peter Singer and Tom Regan

Grew in the 1980s and 1990s

HISTORY OF HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES

 Both a field of study and a way of seeing

Seeing animals in the context of human society and culture

Holistic

HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES AS A WAY OF SEEING

In the Chinese encyclopedia The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge it is written that animals are divided into:

‘… (a) those that belong to the Emperor, (b) the embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids, (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classifi cation, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a very fi ne camel’s hair brush, (l) others, (m) those that have just broken a fl ower vase, (n) those that resemble fl ies from a distance.’

Jose Luis Borges ‘The Analytic Language of John Wilkins’ in Other Inquisitions

HOW DO WE SEE ANIMALS?

Being an animal in human society has little to do with

biology and much to do with human culture; their physical identity is less important to

their status and treatment than their symbolic identity and their

social meaning.

Human-animal studies is about, in part, getting to the core of our representations of animals and understanding what it means when we invest animals with

meanings.

Where Are Animals?

In our Homes

On Farms—both small and large

In schools and medical labs

At work

In zoos, circuses and marine mammal parks

In virtual worlds: on television, in movies, and online

In our laws and courts

In “the wild”

Where animals are found is where, almost without exception,

humans are found. And where they are found influences how

they are categorized – farm animal, zoo animal, laboratory

animal, wild animal, pet – which in turn determines how those

animals will be treated.

Defining the Animal

Animals are largely defined by their use value

Animals are defined as “not human”

Humans are defined as “not animal”

What then is an “animal?”

Human-Animal Studies as an Academic Field

Human-Animal Studies’ relationship to animal protection

Critical Animal Studies

ADVOCACY VS. SCHOLARSHIP

How does one study the human-animal relationship from both sides? How to get to the non-human animal side of the relationship?

Participant observation, animal behavior studies, kinesthetic empathy: all tools to employ

METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS

Theoretical Starting Points

Given sociology’s premise that human beings are social animals whose behaviors are shaped by the individuals, groups, social structures, and environments of which we are part, it makes sense that sociologists would study the interaction between multiple groups of social animals. Sociology explores the relationship humans share with other species from three broad paradigms: functionalism; social conflict theory; and symbolic interactionism. The sociological perspective allows us to focus on features all around us that we never noticed before and perceive them in a new light.   

Human Animal Studies in Sociology

Functionalism, which focuses on social stability and the function of the social institutions, can be used to analyse the roles that animals play in human society and the basis for human attitudes towards those animals.

Conflict theory derives from the work of Karl Marx and focuses on conflict and power struggles within society. It too can be used within HAS, and is especially valuable when looking at the exploitation of animals for human economic gain.

Symbolic interactionism focuses on person-to-person interactions rather than on large social forces, and is a perfect approach to study the interactions and relationships between humans and non-human animals.

Human Animal Studies in Sociology

Cultural anthropology shared with sociology not only some of its methods—most notably, participant observation—but also a focus on humans as social animals. Unlike in sociology, however, animals have historically played a large role in anthropological studies, albeit in a secondary fashion; animals are used as a lens to understand human behavior and evolution, are seen as economic resources, or are seen as symbolic stand-ins for nature and savagery, as totems and symbols, and as mirrors for creating cultural and personal identity.

Human Animal Studies in Anthropology

In recent years, geographers have contributed to human-animal studies through their focus on the spaces in which animals live, and how those spaces help determine the nature of the human-animal relationship. In addition, these geographers look at how animals have moved into the places in which they now exist, and what kinds of power relationships keep them there.

Human Animal Studies in Geography

For much of its history, animals have been used as objects from which to understand humans, while human-animal interaction (and animals themselves) has largely been absent.

Psychologists still conduct research on animals, but other psychologists such as comparative psychologists address issues of animal intelligence, emotion and cognition through much less invasive techniques such as observation in the field.

Today, some psychologists focus their studies on the human-animal relationship, human-animal attachment, the links between animal abuse and human violence, and the benefits of the human-animal bond.

Human Animal Studies in Psychology

Traditionally, animals were not thought to even have history, much less play a role in creating it. Today historians working in HAS treat animals as historical subjects.

Related to history is Zoöarchaeology which, like archaeology, relies on material remains (rather than written accounts) to reconstruct the past, but which specifically focuses on the remains of animals.

Human Animal Studies in History

Gender studies and women’s studies highlight difference and focus on how difference is constructed and represented in culture.

Feminist scholars have addressed the ways that sexism and speciesism both parallel each other and shape one another, and are both based on the assumption that there are essential, meaningful differences between say, men and women, or humans and animals. HAS studies grounded in feminism address as well the process of othering which allows for the assignment of different characteristics to different groups. These differences are then used to justify the domination of certain categories of people or animals, based on their supposed essential natures.

Human Animal Studies in Gender Studies

Cultural studies scholars use the findings from a variety of disciplines (such as biology, ethology, and environmental science) and combine them with analyses of representations of animals in culture (such as on television and in film), in order to understand the cultural construction of animals, and how those constructions are historically and culturally contingent. Like sociologists, cultural studies scholars seek to understand how the human-animal relationship has been shaped by social forces, attitudes, structures and institutions.

Human Animal Studies in Cultural Studies

Philosophy is perhaps the one discipline whose approaches and theories are widely used in other HAS disciplines.

Philosophers going as far back as Pythagorus have examined the human-animal relationship and questioned whether society’s treatment of animals is ethical. In more recent years, the publication of Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation (1975) and Tom Regan’s The Case for Animal Rights (1983) have spurred not only the modern animal rights movement, but modern philosophical writings as well.

Human Animal Studies in Philosophy

 

Real-World Implications of Human-Animal Studies

The link between animal abuse and human-human violence.

Animal-caused violence such as Dog bites and dog attacksAnimal-assisted therapy.The human-animal bondAnimals in sheltersPeople who work with animals and issues like compassion

fatigueThe impacts of popular culture on things like trends in pet

ownershipOther disciplines that are impacted by the work of

human-animal studies scholars include animal welfare science, animal law, and humane education, all of which use scholarship on human-animal relationships in a real world context—to help better the lives of farm animals, to craft law and social policy, and to educate children.

SOME AREAS OF RESEARCH TODAY

 Banksy’s Pet Store http://thevillagepetstoreandcharcoalgrill.com/

Cute Overload http://www.cuteoverload.com

Cute Things Falling Asleep http://www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org/

LolCats http://www.icanhascheezburger.com

SOME WEB LINKS