Rethinking Women's Embodiment in the Context of Human-Horse Relationships

• In Event: 317 - Section on Animals and Society Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Animals and Society Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Animals and Culture

Abstract

This paper explores women’s experiences of embodiment when in relation to horses using ethnographic data of in-depth interviews and participant observation. Given the high level of physical contact between horses and riders, many horsewomen talked about an altered sense of embodiment when working with horses. At times their experiences of embodiment were so greatly altered that they felt a sense of “oneness” – interembodiment – with their horses. This shift in their embodied subjectivity allowed them to reimagine themselves as embodied subjects in new and different ways. While much has been written about female embodiment for both scholarly and popular audiences, women’s stories of their own experiences of embodiment are in short supply. Their narratives offer a unique way to examine questions of gendered embodiment and female embodiment specifically. Moreover, they challenge deeply entrenched dualistic and hierarchal notions of male/female, self/other, and human/animal.

Author

• Keri Jacqueline Brandt, Fort Lewis College