Exploring humanimal interaction and the ‘hands-on’ practices of care at the veterinary clinic (Esitys International Critical Management Studies Conferencessa, Milton Keynes 27.-29.6. 2019)

Abstract

<p>How is care towards nonhuman animals expressed and articulated at the small animal veterinary clinic? This paper takes the complexity of human-animal (‘humanimal') relations as its point of de-parture and delves into veterinary care work from an embodied-ethical point of view. Specifically, we focus on the ‘hands-on’ practices of veterinarian care as care is embedded and expressed in hu-manimal interactions at the clinic. By seeking to understand, in detail, how vets enact and express care towards a.) their nonhuman animal patients, and b.) the human animals/animal keepers at the veterinary clinic, we address the complex, fine-grained and more-than-human aspects of care work where animals are no passive objects, but subject responding to these situated and relational articula-tions of care. We also ask what kind of (emotional) demands and rewards caring for nonhuman an-imals ‘offers’ to the vets involved in our study. Theoretically, we build upon recent literature on animals and humanimal relations in organizations and posthumanist work on care. The empirical material of the present paper consists of ethnographic field notes, auto-ethnographic research mate-rial and in-depth interviews with vets in Finland and in Denmark that capture articulations and ex-pressions of care at the veterinary clinic. We identify significant yet subtle differences in how the vets themselves negotiate the humanimal relations, the vet-owner relations and professionalism at the clinic, and how power dynamics between the three parties – the vet, the animal and the animal-keeper – fundamentally shape these relations. This paper sheds further light on how care is funda-mentally embodied and embedded in the everyday work at the clinic. Finally, this paper contributes to the scholarly debates on ethical veterinarian practice, and what seems to constitute a ‘good’ veterinarian.<br /></p><div><div><div>

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