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Paper short abstract

The study of sanctuaries brings us to consider mutualism as a political issue, with humans and animals both operating in the constraints of intricated power relations. In these spaces, an idealised concept of mutualism is put into practice and confronted with the reality of communal living.

Paper long abstract

My ethnographic fieldwork consists in exploring, as a volunteer, how humans and animals live together in three animal farm sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are places where domestic animals from farms or laboratories are taken in. The idea is to offer them a living space and a status as ‘people’ that will no longer be questioned. However, this ideal of a harmonious environment for animals confronts itself to a harsh fact: cohabitation is difficult. Access to food is a source of violence and exclusion, and certain personalities cannot get along. The humans, at the sanctuaries I observed, devote much of their time to creating an environment as egalitarian as possible. Thus, the sanctuary space is constantly changing: the kitchen is transformed into a dormitory for the most fragile chickens, pastures are divided because of conflicts regarding shelters. The living space becomes more complex and is divided into a multitude of small living spaces.

This framework, which aims to guarantee equality and well-being for all, is imposed on animals, sometimes violently, particularly when it comes to care. Moreover, humans themselves are also subjected to this framework. Faced with the reliance of animals, an exhausting workload, and the responsibility of keeping them alive but also accompanying them in death, they find themselves overwhelmed by the enormous task imposed by their ideal. I was told, ‘When you're here, you no longer have a life’. A study of sanctuaries brings the issue of communal living into sharp focus, turning mutualism from an ideal into a political issue.