Doctoral Dissertation Research: Animal Care Culture in US Zoological Facilities

Cuny Graduate School University Center, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This ethnographic study will examine scientific and ethical practices involved in caring for and rehabilitating of animals in zoological facilities in the United States. It will employ participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival research to explore how ideas about care and rehabilitation - including which animals can be sheltered and how best to determine and meet their needs - shape human-animal interactions and how these ideas and interactions have changed over time. Ethnographic research will take place in three private, non-profit zoological facilities. This project will build on a growing body of work on multispecies ethnographies in anthropology and in other disciplines that seeks to illuminate how human-animal interactions in a range of scientific and applied contexts shape human understandings of animals and multispecies relationships. This project will contribute to the training of a graduate student in anthropology. In addition, the resulting Ph.D. dissertation, articles, and public presentations will inform a deeper understanding of the ethics of animal treatment in contemporary US society.