The politics of British anti-hunt activism: investigating the potential of interspecies solidarity

One of the more interesting recent developments in the 'animal turn' currently ongoing in the social sciences and humanities has been a proliferation of attempts to articulate human-animal relations in political terms. This research has primarily been undertaken by philosophers and political theorists who have begun to theorise the existence of animal sovereignty, animal resistance to human power, and the potential for interspecies solidarity, but have yet to provide detailed empirical demonstrations of how these operate in reality.

My research will make a start in filling this lacuna by offering a sociological account of the political relationships between humans and animals, taking the British anti-hunting movement as a case study. Whilst it has thus far not been subjected to in-depth academic study, as a grassroots movement aiming for animal liberation motivated by strong feelings of solidarity towards non-human animals, and which is engaged in a very lively three-way debate with the hunting community and the state regarding the future of blood sports, the anti-hunting moment offers a great opportunity for investigating how interspecies politics is being rethought by those on the ground. Moreover as anti-hunting activists frequently intervene directly in hunts, coming into immediate contact with not only the quarry animals they wish to save but also the horses and hounds working for hunts, their actions can be treated as a source of experimental data on how human and animal agencies combine to either further or undermine the project of interspecies solidarity.


My project will thus seek to understand the nature of the solidarity between activists and animals; whether it arises from a genuine understanding of the plight of the animals in question, and whether it motivates actions which meaningfully advance the cause of animal liberation. Moreover, I will investigate the role of animals themselves; whether are they active participants in anti-hunt activism or simply the passive objects of human concern. Finally I will consider the scope of the solidarity practised by those in the anti-hunting movement and whether, if it is capable of being directed towards quarry animals, it is also capable of being productively directed towards animals working with hunts.


To this end I will conduct a series of interviews with activists regarding their understanding of their relationship towards animals. Concurrently I will conduct participant observations of peaceful direct actions against hunts undertaken with those I have interviewed. I intend to conduct these observations over the duration of a hunting season, with three different anti-hunting groups.