Crisis in Animal Rescue: Rethinking Urbanization in a Multispecies World

• In Event: Politics and Society in Contemporary Mongolia

Abstract

Is it possible to imagine, through the “eyes” and experiences of animals, what urbanization entails beyond human-centered modernity? This paper explores this question by focusing on the crisis in sheltering animals as the key feature of modern urban life in Mongolia. The explosion in construction of new dwellings for humans in Ulaanbaatar contrasts with the lack of habitat, infrastructure, and shared moral convictions regarding more than human beings. Through the work of young animal rescuers and advocates, the paper explores urbanization in terms of new understandings of sociality, morality, and uhamsar (conscience) in addition to the transforming space and infrastructure in a non-nomadic setting. The animal rescue engagements open possibilities for entirely new reconfiguration of what it means to be a human in Anthropocene.

Author

• Manduhai Buyandelger, MIT