Browsing by Author "Sainio, Suvi"

The changing nature of companion animal and human relations has gained increased attention following the ‘animal turn’ in anthropology. Experiences of companion animal death may invoke similar feelings of grief and engender rituals commonly associated with the death of a human loved one. This master’s thesis aims to study the experiences of urban companion animal owners in Finland following the death of their companion, and the processes and rituals associated with such mourning. Fieldwork was conducted at a peer support group for bereaved pet owners, alongside in-depth interviews, as well ethnographic fieldwork at a pet cemetery located in Central Park in Helsinki. The aim of the thesis is to investigate what rituals and processes of grief following the death of a companion animal are practiced in Finland, and how the pet cemetery functions as an ethnographic location in the material dimension of remembrance and memorialization concerning companion animals. To do this, the changing nature of animal-human relations in Finnish society is studied to some extent, to situate the changing reactions to companion animal deaths in the larger discourse on the role of companion animals in society. Companion animal deaths tie into larger debates on medicine, and local and global economies via the industrialization of “pet-keeping” as a practice in Western societies. The thesis will also add on to the growing anthropological literature on human-companion animal relations and the deep, interpersonal relationships people share with their companion animals, even following their deaths. Exploring a gap in the anthropology of death by examining multispecies grief and grief for companion animals, the research produces fruitful new literature on the human-animal entanglements found in urban, Western societies. Findings of the research indicate that companion animal owners in Finland experience disenfranchised grief, where they feel like their possibilities of expressing their grief towards their deceased companion animals is severely restricted and even denied. Nevertheless, continuing bonds are maintained and companion animals are reintegrated into human kinship relations even after their deaths, with material and sensory practices. Owners emphasize the importance of the relationships they shared with their companion animals, comparing the grief after their loss to grief following human deaths, and even suggesting that grief for a companion animal could, depending on the circumstances, be greater than the grief for a lost human loved one. Mourners call for their “right to grieve” their companion animals in safe spaces, and for opportunities for expressing this grief more openly and to wider societal acceptance.