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Geographies of human-animal interactions
Research Guide
What is Geographies of human-animal interactions?
Geographies of human-animal interactions is the study of spatial, emotional, and ethical dimensions of relations between humans and animals, drawing on concepts from affect, multispecies ethnography, materiality, biopolitics, non-representational theory, and the Anthropocene.
This field includes 56,344 works examining the intersection of geography with human-animal relations. It addresses emotional and spatial aspects of these interactions through multispecies ethnography and non-representational approaches to space. Key themes encompass ethics, materiality, biopolitics, and naturecultures amid Anthropocene impacts.
Topic Hierarchy
Research Sub-Topics
Multispecies Ethnography Methodologies
This sub-topic develops ethnographic methods for studying human-animal relations beyond anthropocentric views. Researchers explore fieldwork techniques, participant observation with animals, and narrative co-construction.
Affect and Emotion in Human-Animal Spaces
Examines how emotions and affects shape spatial practices between humans and animals in everyday geographies. Studies include more-than-human emotional landscapes and affective atmospheres in shared environments.
More-Than-Human Materialities
Investigates the material agencies of animals and environments in shaping human geographies. Research covers vibrant matter, infrastructure entanglements, and object-oriented spatial politics.
Biopolitics of Human-Animal Relations
Analyzes power, governance, and life management in interspecies contexts, including domestication and conservation. Focuses on biopolitical spatializations in agriculture, zoos, and wildlife management.
Anthropocene Naturecultures
Explores hybrid natureculture formations under Anthropocene pressures, including kinship-making and multispecies flourishing. Studies temporalities of landscapes and ethical spatial reconfigurations.
Why It Matters
Geographies of human-animal interactions informs environmental policy by analyzing spatial dynamics of species relations, as in Haraway's (2003) "The Companion Species Manifesto : Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness," which details joint lives of dogs and humans across history, highlighting bonded significant otherness with 3627 citations. It shapes understandings of slow environmental harms affecting animals and humans, per Nixon's (2011) "Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor," which defines slow violence from climate change and toxic drift with 4570 citations. Haraway's (2015) "Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin" applies to multispecies kin-making amid planetary changes, cited 2771 times, influencing conservation and ethical frameworks in geography.
Reading Guide
Where to Start
"The Companion Species Manifesto : Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness" by Haraway (2003) introduces core human-animal bonding concepts accessibly, with 3627 citations grounding multispecies ethnography.
Key Papers Explained
Haraway (2003) "The Companion Species Manifesto : Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness" establishes joint dog-human lives, extended by Haraway (2015) "Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin" to planetary kin-making. Bennett (2010) "Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things" builds on this via nonhuman vitalities (3529 citations), while Sheller and Urry (2006) "The New Mobilities Paradigm" (5194 citations) adds spatial mobilities to animal relations. Ingold (1993) "The temporality of the landscape" (2621 citations) connects via dwelling in animal-inhabited spaces.
Paper Timeline
Most-cited paper highlighted in red. Papers ordered chronologically.
Advanced Directions
Current work builds on Anthropocene multispecies themes from Haraway (2015), emphasizing ethics in biopolitical geographies. No recent preprints available, so frontiers follow established clusters in affect and materiality from the 56,344 works.
Papers at a Glance
| # | Paper | Year | Venue | Citations | Open Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The New Mobilities Paradigm | 2006 | Environment and Planni... | 5.2K | ✕ |
| 2 | Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor | 2011 | Harvard University Pre... | 4.6K | ✕ |
| 3 | The Companion Species Manifesto : Dogs, People, and Significan... | 2003 | Medical Entomology and... | 3.6K | ✕ |
| 4 | The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure | 2013 | Annual Review of Anthr... | 3.6K | ✕ |
| 5 | Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things | 2010 | — | 3.5K | ✕ |
| 6 | Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Maki... | 2015 | Environmental Humanities | 2.8K | ✓ |
| 7 | The temporality of the landscape | 1993 | World Archaeology | 2.6K | ✕ |
| 8 | The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature | 1996 | Environmental History | 2.5K | ✕ |
| 9 | The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Ant... | 1987 | Medical Anthropology Q... | 2.5K | ✕ |
| 10 | National Geographic: The Rooting of Peoples and the Territoria... | 1992 | Cultural Anthropology | 2.4K | ✓ |
Frequently Asked Questions
What role does affect play in geographies of human-animal interactions?
Affect addresses emotional dimensions of human-animal relations in spatial contexts. This field uses affect alongside multispecies ethnography to explore feelings in human-animal spaces. Keywords confirm affect as central to non-representational geography.
How does multispecies ethnography contribute to this field?
Multispecies ethnography studies interactions across species in geographic settings. It examines emotional and spatial bonds, as in human-dog relations detailed in Haraway (2003). This method reveals naturecultures beyond human-centric views.
What is the connection to the Anthropocene?
The Anthropocene frames human impacts on animal geographies through biopolitics and ethics. Haraway (2015) discusses anthropogenic processes affecting species inter/intraactions over thousands of years. It links to naturecultures altered by agriculture and planetary changes.
Which papers define key methods in human-animal geographies?
Haraway (2003) uses companion species to analyze dog-human bonds spatially. Bennett (2010) in "Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things" emphasizes nonhuman agency in vital materialities. Ingold (1993) applies dwelling perspectives to landscape temporality with animals.
What applications exist in ethics and biopolitics?
Ethics in this field probes moral spatial relations with animals under biopolitics. Haraway (2015) advocates kin-making over dominance in Anthropocene contexts. It critiques power in human-animal environments.
Open Research Questions
- ? How do non-representational theories account for animal agency in dynamic human-animal spaces?
- ? What spatial ethics emerge from multispecies entanglements in Anthropocene biopolitics?
- ? In what ways do materialities of human-animal infrastructures shape geographic mobilities?
- ? How does slow violence differentially impact animal geographies across regions?
Recent Trends
The field holds 56,344 works with no specified 5-year growth rate.
Trends persist in affect, multispecies ethnography, and Anthropocene impacts, as keywords indicate.
Highly cited works like Sheller and Urry with 5194 citations sustain mobilities in human-animal spaces; no new preprints or news in last 12 months.
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