Abstract
One could say that behavior unites us – across species divides, across categories of wild and domesticated, across human owners and animals possessed. While each of us may be categorized as a certain species according to observable behavioral traits, behavior is much more than what meets the eye of the taxonomist. In fact, contemporary behavioral scientists both within the human and the animal sciences rely upon an array of disciplines in order to explain and predict the behavior of their research subjects (e.g., Breed and Moore 2020; Box-Steffensmeier et al. 2022). Behavior here is not simply a question of physiology, biology or innate species-specific traits. Rather, a chief question in such research is how these species-specificities continuously evolve and adapt in relation to an environment and other beings. Such evolvement and adaptation are also central interests for professionals who make their living from behavioral training – from horse trainers to organizational consultants. For the latter part, their work has resulted in a variety of tools such as personality test and behavioral profiles that now assist them in their pursuit to understand and develop the behavior of employees and managers, and to best match employees with teams. Told through the prism of a behavioral-profile tool, this paper is a meditation on the relations of facilitators of horse-assisted leadership training and their horse-friends, -partners and -employees. Zooming in on the sensorial, affective and ambivalent intimacies of these relations, the paper explores behavior as a question of what such enmeshed bodies can do and become.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
---|---|
Publikationsdato | 20 apr. 2023 |
Status | Udgivet - 20 apr. 2023 |
Begivenhed | Human-Animal Relations: Beyond the Wild and Domesticated - Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus Varighed: 20 apr. 2023 → 21 apr. 2023 https://events.au.dk/human-animal-relations/conference |
Konference
Konference | Human-Animal Relations |
---|---|
Lokation | Moesgaard Museum |
By | Aarhus |
Periode | 20/04/2023 → 21/04/2023 |
Internetadresse |