{"title":"Soft Animal Heart","authors":"Lauren A. Mitchell","doi":"10.1525/dcqr.2021.10.3.24","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"What does it mean to create familial bonds between humans and animals? Do love, mourning, and empathy matter less if they are directed toward nonhuman animals? This narrative-driven essay explores the nuances of loss during a widely precarious year, and the ways families are created and dissolved through mourning, while also addressing the socially fraught history of the “witchy cat lady.” The author, a full-spectrum doula who had previously specialized in stillbirth support, argues that empathy may offer a heightened version of itself when it demands communicating across a species difference.","PeriodicalId":36478,"journal":{"name":"Departures in Critical Qualitative Research","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Departures in Critical Qualitative Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2021.10.3.24","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
What does it mean to create familial bonds between humans and animals? Do love, mourning, and empathy matter less if they are directed toward nonhuman animals? This narrative-driven essay explores the nuances of loss during a widely precarious year, and the ways families are created and dissolved through mourning, while also addressing the socially fraught history of the “witchy cat lady.” The author, a full-spectrum doula who had previously specialized in stillbirth support, argues that empathy may offer a heightened version of itself when it demands communicating across a species difference.