Animal Geographies

The study of animal geographies is a burgeoning subfield of cultural geography that examines the interplay between culture, society, and animals. Animal geographers examine a broad range of human-animal concerns, including, for example, habitat loss and species endangerment, domestication, animal entertainment and display, wildlife conservation, and more. Essentially, animal geographies explore nonhuman animals and their place in society—place meaning in both physical boundaries (material practices that shape the spaces where some animals are welcomed and others are not) and conceptual margins that call up matters of human identity and animal subjectivity. While the study of contemporary animal geographies is varied and diverse, we can think loosely in terms of three organizational themes: (1) animals and the making of place, (2) human identity and animal subjectivity, ...