Urban animals, human livelihoods and health in the global south: a trans-species approach (360G-Wellcome-205766_Z_16_Z)

Many of the urban poor in the global south rely on animals for their livelihoods. Yet complex relations between animals, informal livelihoods and health have received scant systematic theoretical and applied attention in the social sciences. Urban Animals questions why the urban poor believe they need to keep animals, hypothesizing that these needs are structured by social, spatial and economic forces. It explores health implications emerging from these trans-species arrangements and the management responses they provoke. Combining ethnographic enquiry with analytics of comparative urbanisms, its goal is to develop concepts for understanding human-animal relations in megacities and their health implications in the global south. Central to this goal is to adopt a novel trans-species approach, moving away from anthropocentric leanings of urban studies and public health. This Seed Award will be used to conduct pilot and feasibility studies in New Delhi and Cape Town; collect preliminary data to underpin conceptual, methodological and comparative development; build/consolidate international academic and stakeholder partnerships; and develop collaborative research capacity. Its outputs will be a cross-continental interdisciplinary research consortium which will have generated concepts and evidence for a Wellcome Collaborative Award.