Sonja Mutanen

My educational background is in cultural studies, especially in cultural anthropology, along with sociology, gender studies and folklore studies. My main area of interest throughout my studies has been the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals, especially the relationship between dogs and their owners, which I have studied from different points of view. Currently in my dissertation, I study how Finnish media has discussed the violent or abusive treatment of animals (pets, hobby animals, farm animals) and represented them during the past ten years. The theoretical background is based on the cultural and social shift of human-animal relationships and the politicized question of animals in general. I am inspired by critical animal studies, observing the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals as interspecific and relational. Theoretically I am interested in posthumanist and interspecies theories, as well as critical animal studies and gender studies perspectives.