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Dog's Best Friend?Rethinking Canid-Human Relations |
eBook Available
An examination of different historical and cultural attitudes towards dogs and other canids.
In almost 40 per cent of households in North America, dogs are kept as companion animals. Dogs may be man's best friends, but what are humans to dogs? If these animals' loyalty and unconditional love have won our hearts, why do we so often view closely related wild canids, such as foxes, wolves, and coyotes, as pests, predatory killers, and demons?
Re-examining the complexity and contradictions of human attitudes towards these animals, Dog's Best Friend? looks at how our relationships with canids have shaped and also been transformed by different political and economic contexts. Journeying from ancient Greek and Roman societies to Japan's Edo period to eighteenth-century England, essays explore how dogs are welcomed as family, consumed in Asian food markets, and used in Western laboratories. Contributors provide glimpses of the lives of street dogs and humans in Bali, India, Taiwan, and Turkey and illuminate historical and current interactions in Western societies. The book delves into the fantasies and fears that play out in stereotypes of coyotes and wolves, while also acknowledging that events such as the Wolf Howl in Canada's Algonquin Park indicate the emergence of new popular perspectives on canids.
Questioning where canids belong, how they should be treated, and what rights they should have, Dog's Best Friend? reconsiders the concept of justice and whether it can be extended beyond the limit of the human species.
Re-examining the complexity and contradictions of human attitudes towards these animals, Dog's Best Friend? looks at how our relationships with canids have shaped and also been transformed by different political and economic contexts. Journeying from ancient Greek and Roman societies to Japan's Edo period to eighteenth-century England, essays explore how dogs are welcomed as family, consumed in Asian food markets, and used in Western laboratories. Contributors provide glimpses of the lives of street dogs and humans in Bali, India, Taiwan, and Turkey and illuminate historical and current interactions in Western societies. The book delves into the fantasies and fears that play out in stereotypes of coyotes and wolves, while also acknowledging that events such as the Wolf Howl in Canada's Algonquin Park indicate the emergence of new popular perspectives on canids.
Questioning where canids belong, how they should be treated, and what rights they should have, Dog's Best Friend? reconsiders the concept of justice and whether it can be extended beyond the limit of the human species.
Details
400 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773559066
November 2019
Formats: Cloth, Paperback, eBook
"This book expressly considers itself an interventionist text, as part of activist scholarship, because it seeks trans-species social justice. It explores the metaphorical deployment of dogs as signifiers of human identities and self-definition while simultaneously looking at the lived realities of their historical and contemporary lives. The essays are persuasive and well-written." Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University
"Dog's Best Friend? is particularly valuable for centering capitalism in our stories of the human-canine bond, offering in-depth analysis of what Haraway called the 'encounter-value' of dogs. Future scholars now have a variety of openings through which to problematize and further scrutinize how the pet industry has supported and constrained various forms of canine interaction and study." H-Environment
"Dog's Best Friend? is particularly valuable for centering capitalism in our stories of the human-canine bond, offering in-depth analysis of what Haraway called the 'encounter-value' of dogs. Future scholars now have a variety of openings through which to problematize and further scrutinize how the pet industry has supported and constrained various forms of canine interaction and study." H-Environment
John Sorenson is professor in the Department of Sociology at Brock University.
Atsuko Matsuoka is professor in the School of Social Work at York University.
Atsuko Matsuoka is professor in the School of Social Work at York University.
Acknowledgments / ix
Introduction: Rethinking Canid-Human Relations / 3
John Sorenson and Atsuko Matsuoka
Section One: Historical Canid-Human Relations
1 Dogs and Humans in Ancient Greece and Rome: Towards a Definition of Extended Appropriate Interaction / 33
Cristiana Franco
2 Well-Bred Is Well-Behaved: The Creation and Meaning of Dog Breeds / 59
Martin Wallen
3 Significant Others: Fox Gods and Dog Generals in Pre-Modern Japan / 84
Michael Bathgate
Section Two: Dogs in Space
4 Dogs, Dirt, and Public Space / 113
Karla Armbruster
5 Post-Human Families? Dog-Human Relations in the Domestic Sphere / 135
Nickie Charles
6 Connected and Interconnected: Bali People and Bali Dogs / 160
Kim McCreanor, Stephen McCreanor, and Agra Utari
7 Street Dogs, Rights, and the Pursuit of Justice in India’s Dogopolis / 176
Lisa Warden
8 Gone Stray: A Journey of Gou Mama and Their Fur-Kids / 209
Chia-ju Chang
9 Caring for Istanbul’s Street Animals: Empathy, Altruism, and Rage / 230
Kimberly Hart
Section Three: Exploitation
10 Eating Dogs / 251
John Sorenson
11 The Beagle Freedom Project: Activism, Advocacy, and Awareness / 277
Tim Fowler
Section Four: Wild Canids
12 Becoming “Us” / 293
Sandi Mikuse
13 Time to Rethink the Wolf: Reflections on Captivity / 313
Rob Laidlaw
14 Of Bounty and Beastly Tales: Wolves and the Canadian Imagination / 337
Stephanie Rutherford
Conclusion: Canid-Human Relations, Speciesism, and Overlooked Interlocking Systems of Oppression / 355
John Sorenson and Atsuko Matsuoka
Contributors / 373
Index / 379
Introduction: Rethinking Canid-Human Relations / 3
John Sorenson and Atsuko Matsuoka
Section One: Historical Canid-Human Relations
1 Dogs and Humans in Ancient Greece and Rome: Towards a Definition of Extended Appropriate Interaction / 33
Cristiana Franco
2 Well-Bred Is Well-Behaved: The Creation and Meaning of Dog Breeds / 59
Martin Wallen
3 Significant Others: Fox Gods and Dog Generals in Pre-Modern Japan / 84
Michael Bathgate
Section Two: Dogs in Space
4 Dogs, Dirt, and Public Space / 113
Karla Armbruster
5 Post-Human Families? Dog-Human Relations in the Domestic Sphere / 135
Nickie Charles
6 Connected and Interconnected: Bali People and Bali Dogs / 160
Kim McCreanor, Stephen McCreanor, and Agra Utari
7 Street Dogs, Rights, and the Pursuit of Justice in India’s Dogopolis / 176
Lisa Warden
8 Gone Stray: A Journey of Gou Mama and Their Fur-Kids / 209
Chia-ju Chang
9 Caring for Istanbul’s Street Animals: Empathy, Altruism, and Rage / 230
Kimberly Hart
Section Three: Exploitation
10 Eating Dogs / 251
John Sorenson
11 The Beagle Freedom Project: Activism, Advocacy, and Awareness / 277
Tim Fowler
Section Four: Wild Canids
12 Becoming “Us” / 293
Sandi Mikuse
13 Time to Rethink the Wolf: Reflections on Captivity / 313
Rob Laidlaw
14 Of Bounty and Beastly Tales: Wolves and the Canadian Imagination / 337
Stephanie Rutherford
Conclusion: Canid-Human Relations, Speciesism, and Overlooked Interlocking Systems of Oppression / 355
John Sorenson and Atsuko Matsuoka
Contributors / 373
Index / 379
