Animals and Society: Anthropocentrism

The horses, cattle, dogs, goats and more contributed greatly to human society. Though we regularly ignore their contributions. Horses were used for transportation, agriculture, resource accrual, war, entertainment, divination, spirituality, hunting and more, helping to expand humans over a large area and gave some individuals and cultures an advantage over others. Dogs contributed to companionship, hunting, resource gathering and status. Cats minimized disease and provided spiritual and companion based services. Birds like chickens, ducks and geese gave food sources. Goats, Sheep, Camels and Horses provided food and textile services.

These contributions have been largely minimized by some groups of anthropologists as they focus on human contributions to cultural achievements. The people who could get along well with the animals such as horse trainers in particular could provide a variety of services, such as horse and dog trainers as well as falconers all traditionally had marketable skills in many regions. Do to this human centered belief system, they tend to ignore how animals affect societies. They use biology to explain how animals act but if the animals are focused on, as he mentions, then we can learn more.

Anthropology is a study of humans and how they interact with species and their environment. This means that animals are rarely focused on and how things are sensed by animals does not usually come up. How animals are treated and their health and quality are not necessarily thought of in anthropological thought. Since they are economic resources or they are part of the human ecosystem, they are looked at more like a commodity. However, animals really affected some people. Some cultures even centered on animals or their migratory habits.

Social and culturality are considered by most to be completely human. The recognition or focus is on humans creating their own history. They have language, society, culture and it refers only to their own when referring to anthropology and so as a social science makes it human. However, some are interested in animal-human continuity. Animals and their roles are reduced and objectified.  If how animals truly felt was detailed, such as mentioned in Black Beauty, which I loved as a book, I think we learn more about how life was for animals. It is important to not forget the animal roles and what they did to move us along. I have a personal interest in how the horse helped move human culture around. However, there are other animals such as bull, reindeer, fish, goats and other animals that influenced the way humans lived, sometimes by defining where they were and when. However, understanding how and where animals live and their wild lives is very enlightening. Sometimes we learn things, like explaining what communication techniques we have in common with animals, what is biological in nature and what is unique to a particular species.