Work

Partial Encounters: Exploring More-Than-Human Entanglements in Berlin’s Animal Enclosures

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Drawing on ethnographic research, this article examines a relatively unexplored set of urban scenarios for human–animal interactions in Berlin, Germany, which I have named “animal enclosures.” Animal enclosures are public spaces where people see and pet captive domesticated farmed animals. The article first unpacks those locations by paying attention to their structural and managerial composition and discusses their ethical implications regarding welfare and captivity. Additionally, focusing on two enclosures, the Tierpark Neukölln and the Kinderbauernhof in Görlitzer Park , it problematizes captivity as an infrastructure limiting animals’ mobility and simultaneously allowing and restring human–animal encounters. Right after, it explores the notions of encounter and contact zones and uses them as analytical resources to analyze how human visitors interact with animals in those urban scenarios mediated by different levels of animal captivity. Finally, it introduces the idea of partial encounters , which are incomplete and biased more-than-human modes of engagement.

Source: Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

DOI: 10.1177/08912416241309857

Author: Santiago Orrego

Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Language: English

Topic: Geographies of human-animal interactions

Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,450

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft