Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, we focus on the caring practices of adults and children towards their companion animals, and ask to what extent they are articulated with a wider ethics of care towards nature, the environment and non-human animals. We follow a story-telling method as proposed by D. Haraway.

Paper long abstract:

According to Puig de la Bellacasa (2012; 2017), Bartos (2012) and Hoti and Tammi (2019), children develop non-innocent relations of care with companion animals. Yet, daily practices of care towards animals are permeated by complex and contradictory rules. In fact, everyday interactions prompt dilemmas between preserving the 'animality' and 'wildness' of animals, including their environmental living conditions, and normative beliefs about home and 'proper' human living. These interactions are regarded as a privileged arena of (ethical) socialization of children towards animals. However, while parental discourses may reflect concerns with nature and respect for different species, and the need to raise awareness towards these issues in children, concrete everyday human-animal practices may contradict such intentions.

In this presentation, we focus on the caring practices of both adults and children towards their companion animals, and ask to what extent they are articulated with a wider ethics of care towards nature, the environment and non-human animals. Following a story-telling method as proposed by D. Haraway (2003), we explore how non-innocent relations of care are played in the context of home and family life, and if and how they can help to understand children's relations with nature and environment. We draw on data from the CLAN project [Children-Animals Friendships: challenging boundaries between humans and non-humans in contemporary societies - PTDC/SOC 28415/2017], namely on interviews from 24 Portuguese families with children aged 8-14, and owning at least one companion animal."