Living Beings: Perspectives on Interspecies Engagements (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780857858429)

Living Beings examines the vital characteristics of social interactions between living beings, including humans, other animals and trees.Many discussions of such relationships highlight the exceptional qualities of the human members of the category, insisting for instance on their religious beliefs or creativity. In contrast, the international case studies in this volume dissect views based on hierarchical oppositions between human and other living beings. Although human practices may sometimes appear to exist in a realm beyond nature, they are nevertheless subject to the pull of natural forces. These forces may be brought into prominence through a consideration of the interactions between human beings and other inhabitants of the natural world.The interplay in this book between social anthropologists, philosophers and artists cuts across species divisions to examine the experiential dimensions of interspecies engagements. In ethnographically and/or historically contextualized chapters, contributors examine the juxtaposition of human and other living beings in the light of themes such as wildlife safaris, violence, difference, mimicry, simulation, spiritual renewal, dress and language.

Author: Penelope Dransart
ISBN-10: 0857858424
ISBN-13: 9780857858429
Publisher: Routledge
Language: English
Published: 02/12/2015
Pages: 216
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d