Exploration of Human-Nonhuman Relationships: Women Teachers’ Lived Experiences Considering Nonhumans

• In Event: Exploring Contextual Factors in the Lives of Teachers

Abstract

This study examines the lived experiences of 17 immigrant women language teachers in Canada. The new materialist framework guiding this study explores how ordinary materialities co-shape women’s embodied identity practices. Data were collected through interviews, artifacts, and photovoice, capturing a broad spectrum of enacted identities. The findings shed light on human-non-human relationships integral to women’s identities, demonstrating how pets helped them navigate challenges as immigrants. The discussion centres on human-non-human family assemblages, pointing to blurred boundaries between species; the mental and emotional support pets provide; and pets as intelligent beings who communicate and show empathy. This study underscores the importance of non-humans as co-constitutive of humans’ lived identities and reveals under-explored material and emotional dimensions of immigration.

Author

• Laura Brass, University of British Columbia