Dogs, sleds and humans: a multispecific ethnography in Ushuaia (Capital of Tierra del Fuego Province/Argentina)

• Grant number: 17/13073-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2017
• End date: September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Theory of Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden
• Grantee: Luisa Amador Fanaro
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims the study of the relations between humans (trainers, mushers and tourists) and sled dogs in Ushuaia (Capital of Tierra del Fuego Province), taking as ethnographic focus the practices involved in dog's training, breeding, touristic sledding and in Sled Dog Race Ushuaia, traditional race that takes place in the city since 1993 - both touristic sledding and race take place in the winter centers of the city. In february 2017 I had the opportunity to visit Valle de Lobos, winter center (that's also a kennel specialized in breeding alaskan huskies) in which is intended the development of this research. To do so, it will be investigated what this dogs are and the relations between them and their trainers, mushers and passengers (tourists, mostly), as well as the relation between dogs, sleds and humans, from the ethnography of material and symbolic relations constituted between humans and non humans in that context. The purpose of this research will be, then, the elaboration of a multispecific ethnography that takes into account both humans and dogs (and sleds), and with which it's hoped to contribute to the anthropology of human-animal relations, to the anthropology of techniques, and to the understanding of the myriad of relations between humans and canines.