Entanglements in Liminal Spaces: The Shifting Lifescapes of Working Equids and their Owners

Abstract

Humans and working equids often cohabit similarly challenging societal
environments where they suffer their own forms of social stratification; both are subject to desperate inequalities within socio-economic, -political and -cultural
frameworks which limit and prejudice both actors. Equid welfare in these circumstances falls victim to complex and multifaceted issues arising from
marginalisation and displacement. Wicked problems, challenging to overcome through simple interventions, and made more so when the capacities and
opportunities to improve them may be severely limited by societal, economic and political constraints. The marginalised status of working equids and their owners leaves their presence often undocumented, invisible and falling through the gaps in legislation, policy and means of societal support. The research undertaken within this commentary aims to highlight their existence, drawing attention to
the influences that shape their interactions in shifting lifescapes, and acknowledge their significance as unique, living, sentient beings.
This analytical commentary examines the entangled lives of equids working with people in marginalised communities in Asia and South America. The lifescapes
concept has previously been used to articulate the complex social, emotional, cultural and spatial interactions between people, animals and their locality
(Convery, 2006; Convery et al., 2005; Nazarea, 2003; Salt & Mains, 2018). Following on from this, a novel concept, shifting lifescapes, was developed specifically for this commentary to capture interactions between working equids, owners and the environments they encounter whilst being displaced from their localities by migration, and due to natural and manmade hazards. The commentary lightly draws on Actor Network Theory (Crawford, 2005; Latour, 2005; Law, 2008; Nimmo, 2011) to explore the interconnections between human, animal, ‘objects’ and place, and how displacement, transience and migration influences the development of networks and relationships. This approach works alongside Multispecies Intersectionality (Petitt, 2023; Petitt & Brandt-Off, 2022;
Petitt & Hovorka, 2020; Wilkie, 2015) to emphasise the power dynamics and other factors which influence both intra- and inter-specific encounters. Seen
through the lens of displacement, of being simultaneously bound and unbound, these approaches capture the fragile and transient entanglements of human and equid species co-existing within the liminal spaces they co-habit. Within this
commentary I will be re-focussing equids as the central characters in their own stories whilst traversing some of the myriad factors intervening in transient human and equid lives at the boundaries of society.
These complex systems need closer scrutiny and acknowledgement when
formulating interventions aimed to improve welfare. Moving from reductionist
frameworks to develop new methodologies drawing on complex systems theory, complexity science and incorporating realist evaluation, may help to try to address the over-simplistic approaches used when developing interventions
(Siegenfeld & Bar-Yam, 2020; Turner & Baker, 2019). This commentary adds a significant contribution to what is currently a paucity of investigation into the influence of these complex social, cultural and political systems on the lives and welfare of equids and their owners, their impacts being further compounded by displacement, migration and transience.

Date of Award	13 Oct 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Portsmouth
Supervisor	Leanne Proops (Supervisor) & Helen Wadham (Supervisor)