Humans and Other Animals

What are our attitudes towards other animals, and how does this affect our humanity? This work of anthrozoology explores the myriad and evolving ways in which humans and animals interact, the divergent cultural constructions of humanity and animality found around the world, and individual experiences of other animals. This book looks at case studies covering blood sports (such as hunting, fishing and bull fighting), pet keeping and ‘petishism’, eco-tourism and wildlife conservation, working animals and animals as food. It addresses the idea of animal exploitation raised by the animal rights movements, as well as the anthropological implications of changing attitudes towards animal personhood, and the rise of a posthumanist philosophy in the social sciences more generally.

Samantha Hurn is Lecturer in Anthropology, and launched an award winning MA in Anthrozoology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She has recently been appointed to the Department of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Exeter and is now establishing an MA in Anthrozoology there. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Wales, Andalusia, South Africa and Swaziland.