Multispecies leisure: Human-animal interactions in leisure landscapes

Abstract

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Horses in leisure events: a posthumanist exploration of commercial and cultural values

“…Humans' perceived moral superiority over any other entity has led them to treat animals as property, resources or commodities that satisfy human interests, thereby stripping away animals' value as individuals (Fennell, 2012). Animals are usually reduced to a species-level identity and only considered if humans are affected by their actions or behaviours (Danby et al, 2019).…”

“…Leisure studies have demonstrated that human relations with horses, in particular, are more diverse, intimate, long, complex and collaborative when they serve leisure purposes (Danby et al, 2019). Nonetheless, forcing horses to perform for humans can also be regarded as a form of animal abuse.…”

“…Leisure and tourism studies are fields largely dominated by anthropocentric approaches prioritising human experiences (Dashper & Brymer, 2019). However, only quite recently, tourism (Cohen, 2019;Fennell, 2012) and leisure scholars (Danby, Dashper & Finkel, 2019) have begun to question the ontological and ethical divide between humans and animals in tourism and leisure contexts. To date, the animal species and sociocultural contexts in which human-animal relations have been studied are still insufficient to ensure a broad understanding of the human-animal divide in tourism and leisure.…”