Living with herds
Subtitle: human-animal coexistence in Mongolia
By: Natasha Fijn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
ISBN-13: 9781107000902
Subjects: Social life and customs; Ethnology; Human-animal relationships; Herding; Domestication
Description: "Natasha Fijn examines the process of animal domestication in an ethnographic account of herders and their herd animals in the mountains of Mongolia"--

"Domestic animals have lived with humans for thousands of years and remain essential to the everyday lives of people throughout the world. In this book, Natasha Fijn examines the process of animal domestication in a study that blends biological and social anthropology, ethology, and ethnography. She examines the social behavior of humans and animals in a contemporary Mongolian herding society. After living with Mongolian herding families, Dr. Fijn has observed through firsthand experience both sides of the human-animal relationship. Examining their reciprocal social behavior and communication with one another, she demonstrates how herd animals influence Mongolian herders' lives and how the animals themselves are active partners in the domestication process"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-269) and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Crossing Boundaries: Prologue: life in the Khangai Mountains; 1. Introduction; 2. A Mongolian etho-ethnography; title: Part II. The Social Herd: 3. Social spheres; 4. Names, symbols, colours, and breeding; 5. Multi-species enculturation; 6. Tameness and control; title: Part III. Living with Herds: 7. In the land of the horse; 8. The cycle of life: birth to death, spring to winter; 9. The domestic and the wild; 10. The sacred animal; title: Conclusion: co-domestic lives.