A többfajú etnográfia lehetősége emberek és állatok kapcsolatának kutatásában
The potential of multi-species ethnography for researching human-animal relations

Summary/Abstract: Anthrozoological research in recent decades has increasingly highlighted that the role of animals in human thought is more important than cultural anthropologists assumed during the 20th century. Animals do not merely provide economic or symbolic ‘raw materials’ for culture, but are increasingly active participants in the definition of culture. A group of anthropologists argues that the focus of fieldwork needs to be broadened, i.e. they believe that cultural understanding of animals, in addition to that of human actors, is also possible within the framework of a kind of ‘multi-species ethnographic approach’. In my study, I interpret multi-species ethnography as a perspective and research interest that seeks to transcend the anthropocentricity of previous research and to reinterpret the place of animals in cultures. Furthermore, I view multi-species ethnography as a method that seeks to include animal actors and perspectives in the analysis through the description of human-animal interactions, and in some cases even undertakes anthropological research into the animals’ own culture. However, the existence of animals’ own culture cannot currently be proven on either ethological or social science grounds. For this reason, in my opinion, the epistemological problems that arise when applying a multi-species ethnographic approach can only be eliminated if field anthropologists limit their efforts to the anthropological understanding of the human-animal relations, and in doing so, human subjects remain the main sources of cultural interpretations.

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