Abstract
The field of Human-Animal Studies (HAS) is about human-animal relations. However, which animals does the field encompass? In recent years, some scholars have noted a bias towards vertebrate species, especially domesticated mammals. To assess how prevalent (or not) invertebrates have been in HAS scholarship, a three-stage scoping study was conducted of two pioneering journals in the field: Anthrozoös and Society & Animals. This article reports on preliminary findings, and confirms that human-animal scholarship, as presented in these two leading journals, is characterised by “institutional vertebratism”, albeit the full extent of this invertebrate knowledge gap needs to be fully assessed. If the next generation of HAS scholars is to fully comprehend the full range of interspecies contexts, they must be more inclusive in terms of the diversity of vertebrate and invertebrate species studied. Widening the species net is therefore a necessary corrective to addressing vertebrate bias in this field.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 656–677 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Society & Animals |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 11 Dec 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2019 |
Keywords
- Vertebrate bias
- invertebrates
- scoping study
- HAS scholarship