Ethnography after Humanism

"For those who are in the field of human-animal studies, this is essential reading, although I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in extending the frontiers of knowledge beyond the anthropocentric boundaries of our humanistic past." (David Knights, Lancaster University Management School, UK) "Hamilton and Taylor serve up a menu of provocative questions, insightful observations and complex deliberations to stimulate ideas. A necessary and timely addition." (Caroline Clarke, Open University Business School, UK) "Ethnography After Humanism is a must-read for which the field of human-animal studies has been waiting." (Margo DeMello, Animals and Society Institute, USA)

This book argues that qualitative methods, ethnography included, have tended to focus on the human at the cost of understanding humans and animals in relation, and that ethnography should evolve to account for the relationships between humans and other species.

This book argues that qualitative methods, ethnography included, have tended to focus on the human at the cost of understanding humans and animals in relation, and that ethnography should evolve to account for the relationships between humans and other species. Intellectual recognition of this has arrived within the field of human-animal studies and in the philosophical development of posthumanism but there are few practical guidelines for research. Taking this problem as a starting point, the authors draw on a wide array of examples from visual methods, ethnodrama, poetry and movement studies to consider the political, philosophical and practical consequences of posthuman methods. They outline the possibilities for creative new forms of ethnography that eschew simplistic binaries between humans and animals. 

Ethnography after Humanism suggests how researchers could conduct different forms of fieldwork and writing to include animals more fruitfully and will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including human-animal studies, sociology, criminology, animal geography, anthropology, social theory and natural resources.