Families’ Life Courses with Animal Companions

Monday, 7 July 2025: 19:00-20:30
Location: ASJE013 (Annex of the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences)
RC06 Family Research (host committee)

Language: English

According to recent studies (2022) more than half of the global population is estimated to have a pet at home. On average, 33% of households globally have a dog. Cats are the second most popular choice - 23% households. We know that demographic changes, rising income levels and the COVID-19 pandemic have driven more people to invite animal companions to their households.

In contemporary family studies, the family practices approach (FSA) asserts that the family is a network (NST) constituted by exchanges, and practices such as body care, food, or sexual intimacy (Morgan, 2011, Gabb &Finch 2018). Those practices build emotional ties and attachments also between animals and humans (Gouveia & Càstren, 2021). Animals are increasingly considered family members (Konecki, 2005; Carter, 2015; Charles, 2016; Irvine, Cilia, 2017; Stewart 2018; Charles & Wolkowitz, 2019; Dore et al. 2019). The human-animal bond is studied to be a mutually beneficial relationship essential for well-being (Wollrab, 1998, Walsh 2009).

Existing studies, primarily focusing on the relations between humans, have yet to look at a broader examination of interspecies relationships. Therefore, we invite papers coming from different cultural and family contexts to network together over issues related to:

  • Everyday Life Practices among Multispecies Families
  • Animal Companions and public spaces
  • Animal Companions and Family Morphology
  • Multispecies Family in the City and/or in the Countryside
  • Families from different social backgrounds and capitals living with AC
  • Health and Wellbeing in Multispecies Families
  • Interspieces bonds
  • Gender, Sex and Animals
  • Methodology of Research in the Field of Multispecies Families.

Session Organizers:
Magdalena ZADKOWSKA, University of Gdansk, Poland, Magdalena GAJEWSKA ANITA, University of Gdansk, Poland and Teresa LÍBANO MONTEIRO, Independent academic Researcher, Portugal
Chair:
Magdalena ZADKOWSKA, Poland
Oral Presentations
From Pests to Pets: Wild Boars Ambivalent Companions in Rural Uruguay
Valentina PEREYRA CERETTA, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay; Juan Martin DABEZIES DABEZIES, USA
Multispecies Families in Italy. A Cartography of the New Practicies of Intimacy
Gaia PERUZZI, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; Giacomo DI BENEDETTO, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Distributed Papers
Tensions and Stitches: An Ethnographic Approach to Wild Pets in Uruguay
Magdalena CHOUHY, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; Lucía BERGOS, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; Juan Martin DABEZIES DABEZIES, USA
Doing Family in Three - Two Partners and an Animal Companion
Magdalena GAJEWSKA ANITA, University of Gdansk, Poland
Family Life Course, Spiritual Trajectory and the Status Attributed to Animal Companions in a Rural Ecovillage.
Tiago PINTO PINTO, Institute of Sociology of the University of Porto (IS-UP), Portugal; Teresa LÍBANO MONTEIRO, Independent academic Researcher, Portugal
See more of: RC06 Family Research
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