Toward a Multisensorial Engagement with Animals

This chapter intertwines the emerging fields of multisensory with multispecies ethnography and suggests that by moving beyond prevailing methodological praxis, there is a possibility of unraveling different forms of knotted entanglements with more than just humans. By paying attention not only to vision but to different forms of perception, such as hearing, touch, or movement, the chapter explores the production of innovative and exciting forms of inquiry to reach wider audiences beyond an academic few. A multisensorial, multispecies engagement promises to open new pathways in examining the dynamics of more-than-human relationalities and to expose the potential for interdisciplinary and collaborative engagements. An approach that involves a weaving of ethological and ethnographic techniques, drawing from natural history, while engaging with observational and experimental filmmaking, can shed light on new modes of knowledge-making while allowing us to rethink our interconnections with other animals into the future.

Key questions:

  • Do academics studying multispecies, or human–animal relationships, need to move beyond traditional scholarly outputs, in the form of academic books and peer-reviewed journal articles, to aptly convey their findings?

  • Do our prevailing methodologies restrict scholars from appropriately conveying their findings to a large audience?

  • Would an emphasis on multimodal approaches and different forms of output support the scholarly investigation of more-than-human interrelationalities?