Public Spaces, Gender, and Propriety: Caring for Street Dogs in Urban India

• In Event: Entangled Species: Animals in Society Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

This essay focuses on connections women forge in urban India with street dogs, commonly referred to as stray dogs.We describe how middle class urban Indian women foster interspecies reciprocal caring, a term we coin to highlight the love they feel for the dogs and the ways by which they feel the dogs reciprocate. Through participant observation, including feeding street dogs ourselves, hanging out with dogs and with women feeders, informal conversations in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, and interviews with feeders and animal welfare activists, we map women-dog socialities to understand the joyous meanings women get from their relationships with street dogs.

Authors

• Chaitanya Lakkimsetti, Texas A&M University-College Station

• Sharmila Rudrappa, University of Illinois-Chicago