Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ALIVEAfrica (Animals, Livelihoods and Well-being in Africa)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-03-31
Animals are central to the livelihood strategies of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Across the continent, animals provide sources of food and income, despite the growth of more diverse modes of subsistence. However, entanglements between humans and animals often have deeply problematic consequences for health, well-being and the environment. For example, unsustainable hunting practices reduce biodiversity and risk zoonotic disease transmission, and the uncontrolled use of antibiotics in intensified farming threatens to exacerbate anti-microbial resistance. Meanwhile, against a backdrop of climate-change induced pressures, development projects try to change human-animal relations in order to enhance productivity and economic resilience. Within this emerging dynamic it is important to reappraise the role of animals for contemporary livelihoods; the implications of human-animal relations for the wellbeing of multi-species communities; and the mechanisms of governance that seek to manage human-animal relations. This will be achieved through detailed ethnographic case studies in Kenya and Sierra Leone. This approach will shed light on contemporary livelihood strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. It will enable a major innovation in the social sciences by pushing forward new, post-human, visions for the fields of development and global health. Moreover, these local studies will be situated in a global context through a study of global assemblages of animal-focused development and One Health approaches. A deeper understanding of human-animal relationships has important implications for sustainability across species and will help to shift thinking around health and livelihoods in Africa from an anthropocentric perspective towards a post-humanist vision that enables multi-species stewardship. The project will co-produce knowledge with non-academic partners and build capacity among African scholars to maximise the reach of the research and ensure its long-term legacy.
Since beginning our project, we have carried out extended ethnographic fieldwork across Kenya, Sierra Leone and in Switzerland. Our fieldwork has focussed on the trade in wild animals in Sierra Leone; how institutions in Sierra Leone are preparing for future zoonotic disease outbreaks; veterinary medicine, farming economies, and trypanosomiasis control in Kenya; and the priorities of practitioners working on One Health projects across all our country-based field-sites.
We have collected lots of data which we are in the process of analysing. We have already published 14 outputs related to our fieldwork and are now working on developing further high-impact outputs from our work.
We are an international team including scholars from the global south and north. We are an enabling team, and are proud of the support we have given the early career African scholars in our team, two of whom have been awarded competitive scholarships for further study in Switzerland and in the UK. Our mid career team members are also thriving in our group.
We are looking forward to organising a panel at the next major European anthropology conference on 'Doing and undoing multi-species livelihoods in (un)healthy worlds' in 2024 and hosting a major conference in 2025 - watch this space!
We have collected lots of data which we are in the process of analysing. We have already published 14 outputs related to our fieldwork and are now working on developing further high-impact outputs from our work.
We are an international team including scholars from the global south and north. We are an enabling team, and are proud of the support we have given the early career African scholars in our team, two of whom have been awarded competitive scholarships for further study in Switzerland and in the UK. Our mid career team members are also thriving in our group.
We are looking forward to organising a panel at the next major European anthropology conference on 'Doing and undoing multi-species livelihoods in (un)healthy worlds' in 2024 and hosting a major conference in 2025 - watch this space!
Our standout achievements to date have been the following:
(1) Our research on bushmeat hunting and trading in Sierra Leone is providing rich data on practices that are usually kept hidden and which are important for conservation, as well as understanding how diseases can spread from animals to humans. We have already published impactful research on this topic and have been invited to follow up a recent publication with an article in 'The Conversation', a public-facing online journal.
(2) Our work on One Health is impacting this emergent discipline on the global stage as we push for better inclusion of social science approaches. Our publications on One Health stand to reduce methodological dissonance that can occur in One Health settings when people from different disciplinary backgrounds, with different ideas and priorities, try to work together.
(3) We are working on issues at the cutting edge of Anthropology, and we will make a positive impact in our own discipline over the remainder of the award
(1) Our research on bushmeat hunting and trading in Sierra Leone is providing rich data on practices that are usually kept hidden and which are important for conservation, as well as understanding how diseases can spread from animals to humans. We have already published impactful research on this topic and have been invited to follow up a recent publication with an article in 'The Conversation', a public-facing online journal.
(2) Our work on One Health is impacting this emergent discipline on the global stage as we push for better inclusion of social science approaches. Our publications on One Health stand to reduce methodological dissonance that can occur in One Health settings when people from different disciplinary backgrounds, with different ideas and priorities, try to work together.
(3) We are working on issues at the cutting edge of Anthropology, and we will make a positive impact in our own discipline over the remainder of the award