Conceptualizing the multispecies triad: Toward a multispecies intersectionality

Abstract

Feminist and multispecies anthropologies have decentered those most visible to appreciate the perspectives of those othered in society—but also to better understand society at large. This article goes beyond decentering the human toward decentering another analytical focus: the species dyad. Building on previous work on gender–species intersectionality and multispecies ethnography, as well as drawing on a set of five ethnographic and multispecies fieldwork studies involving gendered relations between humans, cattle, and horses on three continents, this article offers a conceptualization of the multispecies triad by outlining a multispecies intersectionality theory. This entails acknowledging the intersectionality of five sets of relations: (1) species as a power relation beyond biology; (2) intersecting power relations of humans (such as gender and ethnicity as well as local categories); (3) humans’ organization of nonhumans into intraspecies categories (by for example sex, breed, age as well as local categories); (4) nonhumans’ own intraspecies power relations; and (5) nonhumans’ relations to intraspecies groups of other species (including human subgroups). By situating a multispecies triad in this multispecies intersectionality, the article shows how relations of power intersect within and across species with consequences for individuals and groups of all species involved. Multispecies intersectionality can thus be of interest even to scholars primarily interested in humans.