Societal views on animals are rapidly changing and have become more diversified: can we use them for our own pleasure, and how should we understand animal agency? These questions, asked both in theoretical discourses and different practices, are also relevant for our understanding of horses and the human-horse relation.

Equine Cultures in Transition stands as the first volume to bring together ethical questions of the new field of human-horse studies. For instance: what sort of ethics should be developed in relation to the horse today: an egalitarian ethics or an ethics that builds upon asymmetrical relations? How can we understand the horse as a social actor and as someone who, just like the human being, becomes through interspecies relations? Through which methods can we give the horse a stronger voice and better understand its becoming? These questions are not addressed from a medical or ethological perspective focused on natural behaviour, but rather from human acknowledgement of the horse as a sensing, feeling, acting, and relational being; and as a part of interspecies societies and relations.

Providing an introductory yet theoretically advanced and broad view of the field of post humanism and human animal studies, Equine Cultures in Transition will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as human-animal studies, political sociology, animals and ethics, animal behaviour, anthropology, and sociology of culture. It may also appeal to riders and other practitioners within different horse traditions.

About the Author

Jonna Bornemark is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge, Soedertoern University, Sweden.

Petra Andersson is a researcher in Practical Philosophy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Ulla Ekstroem von Essen is Associate Professor in History of Ideas at the Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge at Soedertoern University, Sweden.

Reviews

"The studies presented in the book are long-awaited. It is the first volume bringing together ethical questions of interspecies relationships in several contexts...this volume brings together advanced new theoretical frameworks, inspiring empirical studies and compelling methodological suggestions challenging, stimulating and provoking our understanding of humans, horses and their practices and relationships." - Susanna Hedenborg, Malmoe University

Book Information
ISBN 9780367582005
Author Jonna Bornemark
Format Paperback
Page Count 260
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g