Written and spoken words: representations of animals and intimacy

Charles, Nickie

doi:10.1111/1467-954x.12376

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…I also use the terms 'animal', 'other animals' and 'non-human animals' interchangeably. A discussion of terminology and my reasons for this usage can be found in Davies, 2008: footnote 2 andCharles, 2016. ii This is the term used by the Mass Observation Project to refer to panel members and I follow this usage here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand it could be seen as a rationalisation of their relationship with their dog in light of the perceived moral disapprobation attracted by the admission of too close a relationship with companion animals and the blurring of boundaries that he has already admitted to in their kinship practices. This sort of response was more common in interviews than in the written MO responses where there was more openness about the intimacy of relationships with companion animals (Charles 2016).…”

Section: Blurring Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post-Human Families? Dog-Human Relations in the Domestic Sphere

Charles

2016

Sociological Research Online

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In this article I explore the ways in which dogs and other companion species become family members and engage with the argument that this indicates the emergence of post-human families. Using empirical data from responses to a Mass Observation directive on Animals and Humans and in-depth interviews with people who share their homes with companion animals, I explore the ways in which humans and dogs live with each other and the ‘daily practices of kinship’ which constitute them as kin. I argue that practices of kinship blur the species barrier but that human-dog relations take place in the context of unequal power relations which are an inevitable consequence of dogs’ incorporation into families as dependents. I conclude that while it may be possible to identify post-human practices in multi-species households, they exist alongside practices which reinforce the human-animal boundary and that, given the unequal relations of entanglement within which humans and animals interact, attempts to identify empirically a post-human family seem problematic. What can be said, however, is that a post-human approach to kinship practices highlights the porousness of the category human and alerts us both to the deep connections between humans and other animals and to the profoundly unequal ways in which animals are incorporated into social relations with humans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Blurring Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Human Families? Dog-Human Relations in the Domestic Sphere

Charles

2016

Sociological Research Online

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“…Animal bodies assume a particular significance in the therapeutic process because of the importance of touch. Moreover, touch is central to the interaction between companion animals and their humans (Charles, ); indeed, Haraway () begins her book When Species Meet with a question: ‘Whom and what do I touch when I touch my dog?’ (p. 3) . Therapy animals, however, make themselves available to human touch in a relationship that is different from an intimate relationship with a human companion, and it is their embodiment that enables them to do their therapeutic work.…”

Section: Organizations Animals and Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, touch is central to the interaction between companion animals and their humans (Charles, 2017); indeed, Haraway (2008) begins her book When Species Meet with a question: 'Whom and what do I touch when I touch my dog?' (p. 3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing dogs onto campus: Inclusions and exclusions of animal bodies in organizations

Charles

Wolkowitz

2018

Gender Work & Organization

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Since the early years of the 20th century, work organizations have largely been places where animal bodies are absent or invisible. Recently, US and UK universities have facilitated therapy dog visits to improve students' wellbeing. In this article we analyse data on therapy dog visits to a UK university library as a starting point for thinking about other than human animals in organizations and the gendered dimensions of their inclusion and exclusion. Rather than focusing solely on the benefits of these encounters for students, we put the experiences of the dogs and their guardians centre stage, along with those of the library staff and the students. Drawing on observations of visits to a UK university library in 2015–2016, and a total of 16 interviews with library staff, guardians and students, we explore the instrumental rationale for the programme and the efforts to control any potential disruption of normative organizational expectations.

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“…In recent years there have been concerted attempts to expand the purview of the social sciences beyond the human, in what has been labelled an ‘animal turn’ (Franklin, 2007, p. 7). There is now a well-established body of work concerned with Human–Animal studies (Hamilton & Taylor, 2017; Wilkie, 2015), with a particular emphasis on companion species’ co-shaping relations with humans (Charles, 2017; Cudworth, 2015). This research has engaged extensively with a body of cultural theory that foregrounds the entangled, co-constitutive relationships between humans and other species, which includes (but is not limited to) posthumanism (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance in the Anthropocene

Giraud

Kershaw

Helliwell

et al. 2019

The Sociological Review

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Numerous attempts have been made to understand the Anthropocene in relation to overwhelming species and habitat loss. However, amidst these losses ecological niches have emerged and been taken as signs of resilience and hope: from mushrooms that flourish in damaged forests to urban wildlife in brownfield sites. This article offers an alternative conception of abundance, which addresses the sociological and conceptual challenges posed when abundance is a characteristic of so-called pests, parasites and pathogens. The article draws together research from three case studies: bed bugs, hookworms and antibiotic resistant microbes, all of which have become intimately entangled with particular human communities as other lifeforms have declined. Through contrasting these cases we elucidate how the affordances of abundant lifeforms, including the dangers they pose to other forms of life, are entwined with failed ‘technofixes’, colonial legacies and contemporary inequalities. In doing so we situate abundance as a constitutive element of the Anthropocene that requires as sustained an ethical engagement as questions of species loss. We conclude by arguing that further ethical attention needs to be paid to finding ways of ‘being alongside’ life that is difficult to live with, but is becoming intimately re-entangled with human worlds. In doing so, we complicate existing theoretical work that has drawn hope from multispecies abundance and entanglement.

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Written and spoken words: representations of animals and intimacy

Abstract: Please refer to published version for the most recent bibliographic citation information. If a published version is known of, the repository item page linked to above, will contain details on accessing it.

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Post-Human Families? Dog-Human Relations in the Domestic Sphere

Post-Human Families? Dog-Human Relations in the Domestic Sphere

Bringing dogs onto campus: Inclusions and exclusions of animal bodies in organizations

Abundance in the Anthropocene

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