Animal Intimacies

Recommended. . .Animal Intimacies provides a fascinating ethnographic study on the social and emotional entanglements of humans and animals in the Kumaon region of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. . .Govindrajan's ethnography reveals that the agency of animal subjects has significantly shaped the social relations, everyday ethical practices, and religious worldviews of the Pahari peoples of Uttarakhand. This text will appeal widely to students interested in human-animal relations and critical applications of posthumanist theories. --Choice Animal Intimacies is written in a beautiful style, and the scholarship is exemplary: both rigorous and creative. Govindrajan's exceptional ethnography demonstrates the range of relationships people in the central Himalayas of India have with animals--relationships that can be described, ultimately, as ones of everyday, entangled intimacy. By showing us the textures of these intimacies, Govindrajan demonstrates that animals are not mere objects in the lives and reflections of humans, but are thinking, feeling subjects themselves, playing equal parts in human-animal cohabitation. --Naisargi N. Dave, University of Toronto Written in a lively style combining reflexive reportage with anthropological analysis, Animal Intimacies vividly portrays the everyday life and social concerns of villagers in the hill state of Uttarakhand through their interactions with household domesticates and encounters with forest animals. Its chapter-by-chapter engagement with a succession of distinct interspecies relations makes for a memorable and innovative ethnography. Govindrajan's richly detailed account of human lives led with animals succeeds in addressing many contemporary issues confronting people in India's hill-states, while also making a valuable contribution to the anthropology of human-animal relations. --Piers Locke, University of Canterbury