On being a dog-person: Meaning-making & dog-walking identities. Issue 1 (April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Amberson, Jessica
• Other Names: O'Neill Maggie guest-editor.; Edwards Claire guest-editor.; Ní Laoire Caitríona guest-editor.; Mullally Ger guest-editor.; Fathi Mastoureh guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Irish journal of sociology. Volume 31:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 161
• Page End: 180
• Publication Date: 2023-04
• Subjects: Dog-walking -- walking-interviews -- human-animal studies -- walking as practice -- identity; Sociology -- Ireland -- Periodicals; Ireland -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Ireland -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 301.09415
• DOI: 10.1177/07916035221118247
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0791-6035

Abstract

This paper investigates the dog-walk as a sociologically significant site of inquiry, offering a reflective account of using walking-interviews to understand an intersubjectively-oriented construction of personal and social dog-walking identities. Taking a Human-Animal Studies perspective and drawing on data from fourteen interviews with dog-owners in Cork, this paper suggests that the dog-walk, although a mundane, daily activity, is a multifaceted and mutually meaningful practice. Reflecting on my use of walking-interviews, I explore the meanings that dog-owners ascribe to dog-walking, how it shapes their perception of self, and consider their construction of social identities as dog-people, hybridised beings comprising dog and owner, whose focus lies in issues of shared interest to such beings. I propose that mobile methods, such as walking-interviews, support enhanced epistemological and methodological insights into how being a dog-person is done.