Misplaced Pages

Anthrozoology, also known as human–animal studies (HAS), is the subset of ethnobiology that deals with interactions between humans and other animals. It is an interdisciplinary field that overlaps with other disciplines including anthropology, ethnology, medicine, psychology, social work, veterinary medicine, and zoology. A major focus of anthrozoologic research is the quantifying of the positive effects of human–animal relationships on either party and the study of their interactions. It includes scholars from fields such as anthropology, sociology, biology, history and philosophy.

Anthrozoology scholars, such as Pauleen Bennett, recognize the lack of scholarly attention given to non-human animals in the past, and to the relationships between human and non-human animals, especially in the light of the magnitude of animal representations, symbols, stories and their actual physical presence in human societies. Rather than a unified approach, the field currently consists of several methods adapted from the several participating disciplines to encompass human–nonhuman animal relationships and occasional efforts to develop sui generis methods.

Areas of study

• The interaction and enhancement within captive animal interactions.
• Affective (emotional) or relational bonds between humans and animals
• Human perceptions and beliefs in respect of other animals
• How some animals fit into human societies
• How these vary between cultures, and change over times
• The study of animal domestication: how and why domestic animals evolved from wild species (paleoanthrozoology)
• Captive zoo animal bonds with keepers
• The social construction of animals and what it means to be animal
• The human–animal bond
• Parallels between human–animal interactions and human–technology interactions
• The symbolism of animals in literature and art
• The history of animal domestication
• The intersections of speciesism, racism, and sexism
• The place of animals in human-occupied spaces
• The religious significance of animals throughout human history
• Exploring the cross-cultural ethical treatment of animals
• The critical evaluation of animal abuse and exploitation
• Mind, self, and personhood in nonhuman animals
• The potential human health benefits of companion animal ownership
• Human-animal hybrids (where each cell has partly human and partly animal genetic contents)
• Human-animal chimeras (where some cells are human and some cells are animal in origin)

Growth of the field

There are currently 23 college programs in HAS or a related field in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands, as well as an additional eight veterinary school programs in North America, and over thirty HAS organizations in the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Israel, Sweden, and Switzerland.

In the UK, the University of Exeter runs an MA in Anthrozoology which explores human–animal interactions from anthropological (cross-cultural) perspectives. Human animal interactions (HAI) involving companion animals are also studied by the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, which partners with the US National Institutes of Health to research HAI in relation to child development and aging.

There are now three primary lists for HAS scholars and students—H-Animal, the Human-Animal Studies listserv, and NILAS, as well as the Critical Animal Studies list.

There are now over a dozen journals covering HAS issues, many of them founded in the last decade, and hundreds of HAS books, most of them published in the last decade (see for example, Humanimalia). Brill, Berg, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Columbia, Reaktion, Palgrave-Macmillan, University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, and Oxford all offer either a HAS series or a large number of HAS books.

In addition, in 2006, Animals and Society Institute (ASI) began hosting the Human-Animal Studies Fellowship, a six-week program in which pre- and post-doctoral scholars work on a HAS research project at a university under the guidance of host scholars and distance peer scholars. Beginning in 2011, ASI has partnered with Wesleyan Animal Studies, who will be hosting the fellowship in conjunction with ASI. There are also a handful of HAS conferences per year, including those organized by ISAZ and NILAS, and the Minding Animals conference, held in 2009 in Australia. Finally, there are more HAS courses being taught now than ever before. The ASI website lists over 300 courses (primarily in North America, but also including Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and Poland) in 29 disciplines at over 200 colleges and universities, not including over 100 law school courses.

See also

• Animal behavior
• ABMAP
• Animal rights
• Animal studies
• Anthropomorphism
• Birds in culture
• Cognitive ethology
• Companion animal
• Critical animal studies
• Domestication of the horse
• Ethnozoology
• Human–animal bonding
• Human–canine bond
• Intersectionality
• Insects in culture
• Origin of the domestic dog
• Pauleen Bennett
• Pet humanization
• Service animal
• Social grooming
• Trans-species psychology
• Zooarchaeology

References

1. Mills, Daniel S. "Anthrozoology" Archived 2016-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. CABI 2010, pp. 28–30.
2. DeMello, Margo. Teaching the Animal: Human–Animal Studies Across the Disciplines. Lantern Books, 2010, p. xi. and Hurn, Samantha. Humans and Other Animals. Pluto Press, 2012.
3. Animals & Society Institute. Archived June 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 23, 2011.
4. The term should not be confused with "animal studies", which often refers to animal testing.
5. College of Zoological Studies at London Hanover University - Paleoanthrozoology: Domestication of Species Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
6. "Processes in Social & Affective Development: Human–Animal Interaction (HAI) Research". Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). December 30, 2017. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2018.

External links

• Animals and Society Institute
• Anthrozoology Research Group
• H-Animal
• Human-Animal Studies listserve
• Humanimalia: a journal of human-animal interface studies
• NILAS

v t e Environmental humanities
Art	Crop art Environmental art Environmental sculpture Land art Landscape painting Photography conservation landscape nature wildlife Sculpture trail Site-specific art Sustainable art
Culture	Cultural ecology Cultural landscape Ecolinguistics Ecological anthropology Ecosemiotics Environmental anthropology Ethnoecology Traditional ecological knowledge
Literature	Ecocomposition Ecocriticism Ecopoetry Geocriticism Nature writing Outdoor literature
Philosophy	Aesthetics of nature Critical realism Deep ecology Ecofeminism Ecophenomenology Ecosophy Environmental ethics Environmental justice Environmental philosophy Predation problem Social ecology
Religion	Ecotheology Environmental theology Religion and environmentalism Spiritual ecology Stewardship
Other	Anthrozoology Ecomusicology Environmental communication Environmental education adult arts-based Environmental history Environmental interpretation Environmental journalism Environmental law Outdoor education Psychogeography Thematic interpretation
Related	Animal studies Bioethics Biophilia hypothesis Do it yourself (ethic) Natural history (museums) Popular science Property theory (common property) Sexecology Science, technology and society science studies Simple living Slow food Spirit of place Sustainability studies
Applied	Arts and Crafts movement Acoustic ecology Biomimicry Ecological design Ecomuseum Educational trail Environmental design Landscape architecture assessment planning Nature center New Urbanism Sustainable architecture Sustainable design Sustainable fashion Themed walk
Environment portal Category Commons Journals Degrees

v t e Environmental social science
Fields	Ecological anthropology Ecological economics Environmental anthropology Environmental crime Environmental economics Environmental communication Environmental history Environmental politics Environmental psychology Environmental sociology Human ecology Human geography Political ecology Regional science
Related	Agroecology Anthrozoology Behavioral geography Community studies Demography Design ecological environmental Ecological humanities Economics energy thermo Environmental education ethics law science studies justice racism Ethnobiology botany ecology zoology Forestry Industrial ecology Integrated geography Permaculture Rural sociology Sexecology Science, technology and society science studies Sustainability science studies Systems ecology Urban ecology geography metabolism studies
Applied	Architecture landscape sustainable Ecopsychology Engineering ecological environmental Green criminology Health environmental epidemiology occupational public Management environmental fisheries forest natural resource waste Planning environmental land use regional spatial urban Policy energy environmental
Environment portal Category Concepts Degrees Journals Research institutes Scholars

• Animal rights
• Animal welfare
• Human–animal interaction
• Anthropology
• Ethology
• Interdisciplinary subfields of sociology
• Environmental humanities
• Environmental social science
• Zoology