Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2022

Date of Submission

2022-08-16

Advisor

Dr. Shehram Mokhtar, Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Committee

Dr. Shehram Mokhtar; Nudrat Kamal

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Abstract

Karachi, the third largest city in the world, is home to human and nonhuman animals alike. Within this diverse urban ecosystem, human and animal relationships are often fraught with practices of care, violence, and everything in between. At the receiving end of this violence is Karachi’s street dog and cat population, also the focus of my research. As a response to this widespread culling and abuse, animal rescuing can be thought of as a form of publicly articulated concern. In the pages that follow, I perform an in-depth inquiry into the practices, debates, and the people involved in the practice of animal rescuing. I begin with a theoretical mapping of the network of people involved in animal rescuing, called the ‘rescue network’. This is followed by locating the practice of rescuing as unique and stemming from the conditions of the Megacity. Next, I explore the debates and discourses used by animal rescuers to further their cause and to envision a society where culling and abuse do not occur. I draw from a Foucauldian perspective to theorize these rescuing discourses as a part of the ‘welfare episteme’.

Pages

1,44

Notes

This research is based on my involvement in 'animal rescuing' from Fall 2018 to Spring 2022. I was not associated with any animal rescuing/rights/advocacy organization during the duration of this research except for the Animal Welfare Students' Association (AWSA).

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