Attachment, Care and One Welfare: Exploring Relationships with Dogs in South Africa
Date/Time
Date(s) - Tue, Jun 15, 2027 MDT
9:00 am - 10:30 am

Location

Presented by Leigh Tucker, PhD
How relationships with dogs are formed, understood and sustained is shaped by social, cultural, economic and ecological contexts. Drawing on research on relationships with companion dogs in South Africa, this webinar will explore human–animal attachment and its potential associations with human well-being, while attending to the diverse meanings these relationships hold in people’s lives. It will consider how established concepts of attachment can be understood within the varied realities of South African society, and how the circumstances in which people live influence their opportunities and capacities to care for dogs. Bringing animal welfare and social justice into conversation, the webinar will explore how inequalities, access to resources and broader structural conditions shape the possibilities for care and well-being. It will also consider why attachment should not automatically be equated with positive outcomes, and why understanding these relationships requires attention to the well-being of people and dogs within their shared environments. The webinar will highlight the contribution of contextually grounded research and African scholarship to broader understandings of attachment, care and well-being.

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