For multispecies autoethnography

Abstract

This article makes the case for multispecies autoethnography as a methodological approach in qualitative research involving other species. Multispecies autoethnography can work to address the persistent anthropocentrism in multispecies methods and offer a richer understanding of the way humans are implicated in the lives and deaths of other animals. I use a brief sketch of the experience of raising “backyard chickens” to illustrate what multispecies autoethnography might do in the world and for more ethical practices of research. Ultimately, this article argues for an explicitly anti-anthropocentric approach to research, scholarship, and living that might expand possibilities for more just, ethical, and caring multispecies worlds.