The Oxford Handbook of Animal Organization Studies

Book excerpt: Just as climate change and environmental sustainability have become growing concerns in public discourse, so too have they become a persistent focus in business and organization studies. It is increasingly acknowledged that humans and animals do not dwell in separate spheres; rather, they are entangled in a number of commercial or organizational settings, and organization theory needs to respond more comprehensively to this more-than-human shift in outlook. Important questions continue to arise about the nature of contemporary organization and organizing practices: who are these for? Who benefits from the operation of increasingly globalized capital markets? What place is there for the nonhuman animals in all this organization? What place is there for multispecies companionship, solidarity, and mutual value creation today and in the future, if any? This volume brings together interdisciplinary work on human-animal relationships within business, management, and organization for the first time. It maps the contours of an emerging new discipline, here termed 'Animal Organization Studies', touching on the politics, theory, and empirical experience of multispecies life-worlds. Spanning a number of disciplinary approaches including critical geography, critical management studies, social studies of science, and human-animal studies, the volume highlights the contact points as well as the tensions in humanity's relationship with a range of animal species and habitats. It holds relevance for those investigating debates around humanism and its futures; environmental and sustainability matters; the experience of working with and on animals, and the future of animal consumption and production.