Skip to main content

What We Choose to Hear: Researching Human-Animal Violence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 415 Accesses

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Animals and Social Problems ((PSASP))

Abstract

In this chapter we detail the methods we used for the research that underpins this book. We start by outlining one of our research projects central to much of the data presented in the book Loving You, Loving Me: Companion Animals and Domestic Violence. We then discuss some of the theoretical, methodological, ethical, and personal issues raised for us as researchers involved in this research. We conclude by considering some of the problems associated with undertaking critically oriented research about, and on behalf of, companion animals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    We acknowledge that there is a lot of good work in this area (see, e.g., Adams and Donovan 1996; Gaard 2012), but it still is not central to the majority of feminist works.

  2. 2.

    This is not to say we will not publish in journals, but that our first choice of outlets will be elsewhere.

  3. 3.

    Discussing issues of domestic violence, and in fact any violence, with men is equally as important as hearing testimony from female victims of male violence. And it is something we both do regularly through our teaching and community presentation work. However, directly after these interviews Nik simply didn’t want to excavate the gender politics involved.

References

  • Adams, C., & Donovan, J. (Eds.). (1996). Animals and women: Feminist theoretical explanations. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ascione, F. R. (2001). Animal abuse and youth violence. Juvenile justice bulletin. Washington, DC: Department of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • ASPCA. (n.d.). Shelter intake and surrender: Pet statistics. Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics

  • Berns, N. (2009). Framing the victim: Domestic violence, media, and social problems. New Brunswick/London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, R. (2002). Emotionally involved: The impact of researching rape. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collard, R. (2014). Putting animals back together, taking commodities apart. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 104(1), 151–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cudworth, E. (2011). Social lives with other animals: Tales of sex, death and love. London: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan, C., & Hester, M. (2014). Domestic violence and sexuality: What’s love got to do with it. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etherington, K. (1996). The counsellor as researcher: Boundary issues and critical, dilemmas. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 24(3), 339–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finch, J. (1993). It’s great to have someone to talk to: Ethics and politics of interviewing women. In M. Hammersley (Ed.), Social research: Philosophy, politics, and practice (pp. 166–180). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, H., & Taylor, N. (2016). Neoliberalization, universities and the public intellectual: Species, gender and class in the production of knowledge. London: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaard, G. (2012). Feminist animal studies in the U.S.: Bodies matter. DEP – Deportate, Esuli e Profughe, 20, 14–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, L., & Taylor, N. (2017). Ethnography after humanism: Power, politics and method in multi-species research. London: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, L., & Westmarland, N. (2016). Naming and defining ‘domestic violence’: Lessons from research with violent men. Feminist Review, 112, 113–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R., & Renzetti, C. M. (1993). The problems of researching sensitive topics: An overview and introduction. In C. Renzetti & R. Lee (Eds.), Researching sensitive topics (pp. 3–13). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Letherby, G. (2003). Feminist research in theory and practice. Buckinghamshire: The Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, M. (2011). The underdog in history: Serfdom, slavery and species in the creation and development of capitalism. In N. Taylor & T. Signal (Eds.), Theorising animals: Re-thinking Humanimal relations (pp. 87–106). Boston/Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oakley, A. (1981). Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms? In H. Roberts (Ed.), Doing feminist research (pp. 30–36). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oakley, A. (2005). The Ann Oakley reader: Gender, women and social science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Oakley, A. (2016). Interviewing women again: Power, time and the gift. Sociology, 50(1), 195–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pain, R. (2014). Everyday terrorism: Connecting domestic violence and global terrorism. Progress in Human Geography, 38(4), 531–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rager, K. B. (2005). Self-care and the qualitative researcher: When data can break your heart. Educational Researcher, 34(4), 23–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, H., Bloor, M., & Fincham, B. (2008). A price worth paying? Considering the ‘cost’ of reflexive research methods and the influence of feminist ways of ‘doing. Sociology, 42(5), 912–933.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayers, J. G. (2016). A report to an academy: On carnophallogocentrism, pigs and meat-writing. Organization, 23(3), 370–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, S. (1998). Here be dragons: Researching the unbelievable, hearing the unthinkable. A feminist sociologist in uncharted territory. Sociological Research Online, 3(3), 1–12. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/3/3/1.html

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, Z., & Taylor, N. (forthcoming). Between force and freedom: Place, space and animals-as-pet-commodities. In R. White et al. (Eds.), Vegan geographies. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, N., & Fraser, H. (2018). Resisting sexism and speciesism in the social sciences: Using feminist, species-inclusive, visual methods to value the work of women and (other) animals. Gender, Work and Organizations, online first. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12246

  • Vance, L. (1995). Beyond just-so stories: Animals, narrative and ethics. In C. Adams & J. Donovan (Eds.), Animals and women: Feminist theoretical explorations (pp. 163–191). Durham/London: Duke University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Walby, S., Towers, J., & Francis, B. (2014). Mainstreaming domestic and gender-based violence into sociology and the criminology of violence. The Sociological Review, 62(S2), 187–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, R. J., & Cudworth, E. (2014). Taking it to the streets: Challenging systems of domination from below. In A. Nocella, J. Sorenson, K. Socha, & A. Matsuoka (Eds.), Defining critical animal studies: An intersectional social justice approach for liberation (pp. 202–220). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nik Taylor .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Taylor, N., Fraser, H. (2019). What We Choose to Hear: Researching Human-Animal Violence. In: Companion Animals and Domestic Violence. Palgrave Studies in Animals and Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04125-0_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04125-0_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04124-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04125-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics