This paper argues that an ethical approach to animal-involved ethnography requires treating animals, like humans, as co-participants in the research. To help guide this approach, it proposes a framework of questions and key values for research in an array of different settings and contexts.
Paper Abstract
Focused specifically on ethnography that involves nonhuman animals, this paper argues that an ethical approach to such research requires treating animals, like humans, as co-participants in the production of knowledge, while contrasting this approach to ones in which animals have instead been the objects of research. To help guide this approach, it proposes a framework of key research values - including trust, empathy, humility, and an awareness of anthropocentric bias. Further, it explores how these values can be mobilized in an array of different settings and contexts for human-animal encounters, such as wilderness sites, sites of captivity, and sites where animals are subjected to violence. It concludes with a consideration of ethnography's potential as a vehicle for advocacy on behalf of its participants, especially as it could apply to nonhuman animals.