Abstract
Companion Animals in Everyday Life: Situating Human-Animal Engagement within Cultures is an interdisciplinary collection shedding light on human–animal relationships and interactions around the world. The book offers a predominantly empirical look at social and cultural practices related to companion animals in Mexico, Poland, the Netherlands, Japan, China and Taiwan, Vietnam, USA and Turkey, among others. It focuses on how dogs, cats, rabbits and members of other species are perceived and treated in various cultures, highlighting commonalities and differences between them. A few of the many topics covered in the book are: (1) what makes a companion animal and what makes a nuisance animal, and how and where these categories permeate; (2) the adoption of the cultural patterns of pet keeping from the West in post-communist European and Asian countries; (3) the cultural practice of naming companion animals using human names; (4) the rise of popularity of rabbits as companion animals across the world; (5) the multiplicity of dimensions of the human-animal bond in times of a nuclear disaster; (6) the social and political attitudes to feral, stray and semi-stray animals; as well as (7) public perceptions of the animal adoption process and (8) strategies of strengthening the public awareness of the link between animal abuse and domestic violence. The book looks at these and numerous other issues from a variety of perspectives. Its interdisciplinary character is reflected by the academic background of the authors, one that includes psychology, anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies, history, sociology, religion studies, as well as literary studies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ambros, B. R. (2012). Bones of contention: Animals and religion in modern Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
American Pet Products Association. (2011). New survey reveals pet ownership at its highest level in two decades and pet owners are willing to pay when it comes to pet’s health. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://media.americanpetproducts.org/press.php?include=142818
American Veterinary Medical Association (2012). U.S. pet ownership and demographics sourcebook. Schaumburg, IL: American Veterinary Medical Association.
Fudge, E. (2002). Animal. London: Reaktion Books.
Hongyan, Y. (2011). Pet cemetery popular in China. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-01/14/content_11856290.htm
Losey, R. J., Garvie-Lok, S., Leonard, J. A., Katzenberg, M. A., Germonpré, M., Nomokonova, T., et al. (2013). Burying dogs in ancient Cis-Baikal, Siberia: Temporal trends and relationships with human diet and subsistence practices. PLoS ONE, 8(5), e63740. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063740.
Preȩgowski, M. P. (2016). “All the world and a little bit more”. Pet cemetery practices and contemporary relations between humans and their companion animals. In M. DeMello (Ed.), Mourning animals (pp. 47–55). East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (2014). RSPCA policies on animal welfare. Horsham, England: RSPCA.
Serpell, J. A. (1989). Pet-keeping and animal domestication: A reappraisal. In J. Clutton-Brock (Ed.), The walking larder: Patterns of domestication, pastorialism and predation (pp. 10–21). London: Unwin Hyman.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Preȩgowski, M.P. (2016). Introduction. In: Pręgowski, M. (eds) Companion Animals in Everyday Life. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59572-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59572-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59571-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59572-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)