Projects per year
Abstract
Through ethnographic attunement to the emotionally complex relationships between zookeepers and nonhuman animals, commodification in the political economy of Copenhagen Zoo produces a form of care characterized by coercive cooperation. Amidst the coercive constraints of captivity, keepers depict relationships as ranging from those of explicit coercion, where the animals are made to work, to those of cooperation, where the animals are perceived as working with. Within this context, zoo animals can be better understood as “cooperative commodities”, lively commodities that are perceived as cooperating in their commodification. The belief in cooperation also reframes potential moments of resistance as opportunities to respond and thereby lessen the emotional toll on zookeepers when maladaptive behaviors highlight the failings of their captive environment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1923-1939 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISSN | 2514-8494 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2023 |
Keywords
- Denmark
- Human–animal relations
- commodity
- conservation
- multispecies ethnography
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Care and its discontents: Commodification, coercive cooperation, and resistance in Copenhagen Zoo'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Doctoral Research
Mc Loughlin, E. T. (PI)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Statens Center for Kompetence- og Kvalitetsudvikling
11/09/2017 → 29/10/2021
Project: Research
Research output
- 7 Citations
- 1 PhD thesis
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Displaying Animal Death: The Politics of Transparency and the Production of National Identity in Industrial Pig Agriculture and Zookeeping in Denmark
Mc Loughlin, E. T., Feb 2022, Exeter: University of Exeter. 345 p.Research output: Types of Thesis › PhD thesis