Researching animal geographies through the use of walking methods

Using ethnomethodology as an approach to explore human–animal interaction

“…Animal geographers have pushed for new creative methods that take into consideration animals' geographies (Hodgetts & Lorimer, 2015), to ‘hear the cry’ of the nonhuman, rather than its anthropocentric interpretation (Buller, 2015; Gibbs, 2020). Animal geographers have sought to enliven their methodological approaches, utilising visual (Bear et al, 2017; Lorimer, 2010; Smith et al, 2021), mobile (Arathoon, 2021; Brown & Dilley, 2012), sensuous (Ellis, 2021) and affective (Sinha et al, 2021) ethnographies, ethology (Barua & Sinha, 2019; Lorimer, 2012) and multispecies autoethnography (Gillespie, 2021). The aim of such mixed, but interconnected, methodological approaches is to gain an insight into animals' lifeworlds on their own terms; adopting animal sensibilities through movement, bodily attunement and to ‘learn by witnessing’ (Lorimer, 2012, p. 72) animals' lives.…”

“…How to approach and undertake research into animals' geographies, to explore animals' lived and felt experiences, rather than their anthropocentric representation, is a question geographers are constantly grappling with (Buller, 2015; Gibbs, 2020). A plethora of methodological approaches have been developed to do just this, whether they focus on visual (Bear et al, 2017; Smith et al, 2021), mobile (Arathoon, 2021; Brown & Dilley, 2012), sensuous (Ellis, 2021) or affective (Sinha et al, 2021) ethnographies of human–animal interactions. These approaches all aim to do one thing: offer a less anthropocentric way to research animals' geographies.…”