I am a multispecies sociologist interested in the relationships between humans and other animals. Prior to doing anything research related I worked in a lot of pet-related jobs and found that while most of us use the same words to talk about our nonhuman companions — love, family, irreplaceable — this often looks very different depending on the household. When I discovered sociology as an undergraduate I realised that there was a whole toolkit available to understand power, patterns and explore the reasons behind many of the problems nonhuman animals face. I completed honours and PhD programs researching different aspects of western pet keeping and never looked back.
Since then I have spend my career using my skills as a sociologist to build our knowledge around all kinds of human-animal relationships. Humans are always embedded in complex relations with animals and the environment whether we acknowledge it or not, and these entanglements have implications for all of us. In times of climate change, increasing disasters and social inequality we need to take these relationships seriously if we want to live in a better multispecies world.
I think our best research often comes from thriving, supportive research communities and I have done my best to build up local, national and international research collectives to support multispecies research. The International Association of Vegan Sociologists (which I co-chair with Corey Wrenn) is constantly adding new events and ways to get involved on top of our annual conference (free! online!) so please do get in touch if you are interested in joining us at info@vegansociology.com
