Care-full research ethics in multispecies relations on dairy farms

Abstract

Although ethical questions are at the core of more-than-human geographies, more attention needs to be paid on researchers’ ethical responsibilities to more-than-human research subjects in social scientific research. In this paper I critically analyze my empirical work on Finnish dairy farms from the perspective of multispecies research ethics. I suggest that the concept of care is useful in understanding more-than-human research ethics. Attending to the needs of others can work as a starting point for making difficult ethical decisions in the field. However, in contested moments, different needs are often in conflict. Here, situated ethical responses might be needed in relation to the practices of fieldwork, for example to avoid causing harm to research subjects. Importantly, researchers have to care for their research subjects also through their analysis; addressing the questions related to research ethics also in terms of knowledge politics. When the ethics of care is complemented with the notion of ethics of exclusion, it has potential to tease out broader responsibilities both in interactions and knowledge about other animals and more-than-human research settings.

Complexities of care in insect‐human relations

“…Much of the literature looks at caring about and for more‐than‐human others (Alarcon et al, 2020; Bear, 2021; Krzywoszynska, 2019; Lonkila, 2021). Here we suggest that human‐insect care is noticing how insects may also perform care for us, demonstrating a reciprocity of care between human and nonhuman.…”

Sonic methodologies for more-than-human geographies: the politics of listening in a traditional slaughterhouse in the UK

“…15 Multispecies ethnographic research methods draw on a wide array of approaches 16 to examine multispecies entanglements, such as the immersive approaches of sensory ethnography in visual anthropology. 17 In her reflection on more-than-human research ethics, Lonkila 18 conveys the ethical and methodological challenges of speaking with more-than-human others. The politics of knowledge production is also noted by geographer Henry Buller 19 who points out that 'many of the more significant advances in understanding what "matters to animals" have come from the sciences of ethology and animal welfare in the context of various forms of confinement'.…”