Multispecies ethnographic projects are venturing “beyond the human” (Kohn 2013), but how far can they go and remain anthropological? The answer depends on whether such projects align with the surge of ethological research on animal cultures. Based on my fieldwork on wild horses in Galicia, Spain, I make a case for an ethologically informed ethnography that extends cultural analysis to other social species. In this project, I used ethological techniques of direct observation but analyzed the results using Erving Goffman's concepts of face, footing, and civil inattention. My analysis inverts Clifford Geertz's classic study of the Balinese cockfight by making horse sociality the center of analysis, rather than regarding these animals as representations of human status concerns. I argue that this approach can be usefully applied across the range of taxa that evince culture, particularly those caught up in conservation efforts. In developing this claim, I draw on ethnoprimatologists’ efforts to synthesize multispecies ethnography with ethological methods and perspectives. [multispecies ethnography, animal cultures, ethology]

中文翻译：

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认识动物：多物种民族志和人类学范围

多物种民族志项目正在“超越人类”（Kohn 2013），但它们能走多远并保持人类学？答案取决于此类项目是否与动物文化行为学研究的激增相一致。根据我在西班牙加利西亚对野马的实地调查，我提出了一种以民族志为依据的民族志，该民族志将文化分析扩展到其他社会物种。在这个项目中，我使用了直接观察的行为学技术，但使用 Erving Goffman 的面部、立足点和公民注意力不集中的概念分析了结果。我的分析颠覆了 Clifford Geertz 对巴厘岛斗鸡的经典研究，将马的社会性作为分析的中心，而不是将这些动物视为人类地位问题的代表。我认为这种方法可以有效地应用于表现文化的分类群，特别是那些参与保护工作的分类群。在提出这一主张时，我借鉴了民族灵长类学家的努力，将多物种民族志与民族学方法和观点相结合。[多物种民族志、动物文化、行为学]