Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Interpersonal relations Human-animal relationships'

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The increase in the use of Enterprise Resource Planning systems in organisations has created an industry which impacts organisations significantly, whether it may be positive or negative. Waltons Namibia has gone through the process twice in a four year period. The processes were handled in a different manner which resulted in different outcomes. The financial impact and general performance of the company were thus significantly different as a result of the different approaches. The study analyzes and assesses the process that was followed during the second implementation process by identifying and evaluating the critical success factors which were addressed successfully and not-successfully. These critical success factors are analyzed in a framework of phases of which the implementation process consists with specific focus on how stakeholder relationships impacted and can impact the critical success factors during an implementation process. The research question can thus be stated as follows: Does the management of relationships between stakeholders in the ERP implementation process play a significant role in the success of the outcome? A secondary result of the research is the creation of a document which can be utilized by organisations to assist in the planning and execution of an ERP implementation by utilizing the framework of phases and identification of critical success factors to manage the project. The study was qualitative in nature utilizing data collected through observation, discussions with participants and personal participation during the project. An encompassing literature review was done prior to the project and the study as well as an assessment of the organisations strategic architecture and the impact it has on the project. The result of the study shows that the management of relationships throughout the project plays a major role in determining the outcome of the project and has

This thesis is a critique of romantic love theoretically premised on the analytical psychology of Carl Jung and the humanistic psychoanalysis of Erich Fromm. The aim of this critique is to explore whether there are grounds for postulating a conception of love beyond the current romantic framework. As the critique is primarily concentrated at the depth level, romantic love is examined via the medium of Cinderella folklore, with particular focus on Andy Tennant's 1998 film adaptation of Cinderella, Ever After. Based on a Jungian approach to the psyche and psychic products, the methodological framework incorporates the three following tools: The tool of interpretation at the subjective level, in which the characters of the Cinderella fairy tale are read symbolically rather than taken to denote literal fictitious characters; the tool of constructive analysis, in which it is argued that romantic love is more than 'nothing but' a boy/girl love story or 'nothing but' a myth depicting patriarchal oppression; and the tool of amplification, in which archetypal similarities between the Christian myth and the Cinderella fairy tale are highlighted. The central argument of this critique is that while romantic love does not provide a viable model of relatedness if taken and practiced literally, the romantic myth nonetheless contains within it the basis for a fuller and richer experience of love and relatedness if read subjectively. The rationale for a depth critique of romantic love is based upon the Jungian postulate that phenomena such as dreams and myths issue fundamentally from the unconscious psychic realm, and further upon Jung's recognition of a psychological developmental process he refers to as 'individuation' activated by engagement with the products of the unconscious. A symbolic/psychological reading of romantic love brings to light that romantic desire toward another is an outward manifestation of an inner desire for individual realisation, and is expressive of the individual's own capacity for wholeness. The value of a symbolic reading of romantic love is appreciated if it is conceived that it is precisely individual realisation that forms the basis for what is referred to by Erich Fromm as productive or knowledge-based love, argued here to be the ideal and only firm basis for human relatedness generally and intimate relatedness specifically.

The goal of this work was to integrate multiple levels of analysis in an attempt to clarify our understanding of a wealth of data examining sexual and emotional intimacy. The current work presented an empirical attempt to reconcile the notion of biologically constrained behavior with a perspective emphasizing evolved psychological mechanisms.

Since before the Neolithic Revolution, when human civilisation first emerged, humans and canines have lived, and died, together. This Scottish study is conducted in the field of animal-human interaction and, using qualitative methods, applies established insights from the sociology of health (born of human-to-human interaction) to a human-animal relationship. Specifically, this thesis explores death and dying in relations between the companion canines, and the human members, of ten families. Nonhuman illness narratives are found in profusion in this study, and it was also found to be possible to apply biographical disruption to nonhumans, when conceptualised as biographical disruption-by-proxy. Unexpectedly, there emerged from the data support for a four-fold model of canine selfhood, as forged within the family. This is, as far as I am aware, the first modelling of a specific nonhuman consciousness, within the discipline. Suffering was found to exist in both physical and non-physical forms for the companions, and a mutual vulnerability to loneliness, and desire for companionship, appears to be a powerful point of connection between the humans and the canines. Being together emerged as both a practice, and as an ideal, that moulded the human-canine relations, and it was regarded as unfitting for a canine to die alone. Companion canine dying comes forth as a negotiated process, shaped by a divide between gradual and sudden death. This work encountered developed narratives of departure, that seem to structure the experience of losing a companion. In particular the role of the expert is a privileged voice in the negotiations of dying, and the biomedical view is treated as being definitive. The role of the expert is not simply submitted to however, but a range of stances to veterinary authority are displayed, being; acquiescence, resistance and invalidation of the veterinary voice. Ultimately, whilst interplays of wellbeing are present, they are less biophysically grounded, than they are rooted in the everyday routines of life, in the rituals of eating, sleeping, walking, and playing together, that compose the shared world of the human and companion canine.

This thesis is a sociological exploration of how people involved in commercial and hobby livestock production, in Northeast Scotland, make sense of their relations with livestock, from birth to slaughter. I carried out an ethnographic study that combines fieldwork and unstructured interviewing to elicit how mart workers, auctioneers, vets, farmers, stockmen, hobby farmers and slaughter workers regard and interact with livestock. Although livestock are the raw materials of production, I show that the commodity status of livestock is variable and that people's relationships with livestock are complex, dynamic and ambiguous. One of the main reasons for ambiguity is that livestock are sentient and social begins: they have the capacity to engage in social relations with each other and with those who work closest with them. In effect, livestock are commodified sentient beings but to draw attention to people's difficulty in classifying and relating to them, I suggest they are sentient commodities. I argue that people's attitude, feeling and behaviour, towards livestock is systematically related to the place they, and their animals, occupy in the commercial and non-commercial production process. For instance, breeding animals are more likely to be regarded as individuals whilst slaughter animals are anonymously processed as part of a de-individualised batch. Similarly, people attend to express varying degrees of emotional attachment to livestock at the breeding end of the process and varying degrees of emotional detachment towards livestock destined for slaughter. Any animals, however, that requires additional handling or deviates from the routine is included to stand out from the herd, will acquire more meaning for the worker, and will become more than 'just an animal'. People who work with livestock are therefore faced with the challenge of negotiating the contradictory demands of being empathetic carers and economic producers of livestock.

[Truncated abstract] This thesis investigates the influence the interpersonal relationship between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur has upon the performance of the venture capitalist's investment. Its aim was to explore how venture capitalists add value (as opposed to what they do) to their investments in order to arrive at a fuller explanation of investment performance than that offered by agency theory – the current paradigm for the value adding relationship. The qualitative study that underpins this thesis found that in Australia, the quality of the interpersonal relationship between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur during the value adding phase of the venture capital investment cycle positively predicts the performance of the venture capitalist's investment. The study was prompted by the researcher's personal experiences (as both a venture capitalist and as an entrepreneur in Australia) which suggested that the interpersonal relationship may influence the effectiveness of the venture capitalist's attempts to add value. Whilst the prior research had explored in depth the provision of value adding services (e.g. strategic advice, recruitment of key personnel, board participation), less progress appears to have been made in understanding the role of the interpersonal processes. Although several studies have attempted to fit an established social exchange theory to the value adding process, a published explanation of investment performance (process outcome) that includes interpersonal processes has not been identified. ... The exercise of power was found to be a negative predictor of investment performance. Power was typically exercised as the last resort measure in a failed interpersonal relationship and either precipitated or consolidated inferior investment performance. The failure of the venture capitalists to exercise their formal power in time to arrest underperformance was often due to their fear of the 'hold up' power of (threat of abandonment by) the entrepreneur. Agency theory's contribution to the explanation of investment performance was limited to (adverse) selection, at which point the combined competence of the dyad was determined. In addition to the new explanatory theory, some other insights into value adding were provided, including the key role of mutuality and the lack of explanatory power of the contract, information asymmetry, or goal alignment. The thesis offers contributions to knowledge and practice. Its contributions to knowledge include: the generation of new theory about value adding and investment performance in venture capital deals and some new theoretical concepts, the application of a methodological approach that is new to the area of interest, and a new insight into the Australian venture capital sector. It outlines the implications of the study findings for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and policy makers, providing some fresh ideas for their consideration. It particularly highlights the need for cultural change in value adding relationships and the influence of heritage on the likelihood of the venture capitalist being successful.

This thesis focuses on the relationship of various actors with wild animals, specifically wild predators protected by law, in rural and protected areas of south-central Chile (IX Araucanía Region). It is based on a 12 month period of ethnographic fieldwork, distributed in the Huerquehue National Park, a private protected area ('Cañi Sanctuary') and a small farm close to the Villarrica National Park. Participant observation was developed with park rangers, conservation researchers and small-scale farmers. Most of these were also interviewed through in-depth, semi structured approaches, as other key informants, mainly neighbouring local farmers and government officials. My aim is to understand anthropologically how humans and animals interact, considering various contexts, and contributing to Chilean academia in better understanding the situation of endangered species in the country. The main theoretical points I argue are that human-animal relations are inscribed in a broader environmental approach, regarding classifications about the natural world, humanity's place in it, and their separation. Thus, the study analyses participants' environmental engagements and their relations with wild protected predators and other animals, showing how practical engagements help to 'piece together' the surroundings and other creatures. Considering uncertainty and fuzzy boundaries regarding implied classifications and fleeting experiences with animals, the analysis then focuses on the interpretation of animal tracks and traces and tracking, as flexible and open ended engagements with the environment and its clues, connected to the semiotic concept of 'abduction'. Finally, I return to reflections concerning a fluctuating world, crossed by uncertainties and categories' limitations. Using the concept of 'the uncanny', I explore alternative interpretations of relations with animals and the environment, connected with strangeness and unpredictability, where regular knowledge and ontological assumptions are challenged. I finish by stressing the fertility of being open to complex knowledge, related with a fluctuating and uncanny world that resists well-defined categorisations.

For humans and non-human primates (NHPs) the face represents a particularly important source of social information providing a means of conspecific recognition and cues to personal details including sex, age, and emotional state. The human face may also be fundamental in the transmission to conspecifics of other forms of socially relevant information including the display of facial traits associated with sexual attraction and mate choice. A wealth of experimental literature indicates that humans display robust preferences for certain facial traits associated with facial attractiveness including preferences for bilateral facial symmetry, facial averageness and sexually dimorphic faces and facial features. It is thought that these preferences have evolved via sexual selection, and may be adaptive, due to the role that these specific facial features play in reliably signalling to others the possession of heritable genetic quality or ‘good genes’. Therefore, from an evolutionary perspective, it is possible that certain facial preferences may represent an evolutionary adaptation for the selection of potential mate quality. However, despite similarities between human and NHP face processing and recognition abilities, the shared evolutionary history and social importance of faces to primates in general, and the potential importance of these preferences in the mate choice decisions of NHPs, very little research has investigated the extent to which NHPs display comparable preferences to humans for these specific facial traits. Consequently, the aim of the following thesis was to comparatively assess the general and more specific preferences that humans and NHPs display for faces and for traits associated with facial attractiveness. Data was compiled from preference studies examining the visual preferences displayed by two species of NHP (brown capuchins (Cebus apella) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)) for conspecific faces manipulated for those facial traits associated with attractiveness, and from a single study of brown capuchins examining their general visual preferences for various types of facial information. Comparative preference studies were also conducted upon human adults and infants examining the visual and declared preferences that they display for manipulations of facial attractiveness. Data showed that despite possessing general preferences for certain faces and facial information, generally NHPs displayed no significant preferences for those facial traits thought to influences judgements of attractiveness in humans. Possible reasons for this absence of preference for these particular facial traits and the evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Picturesque Cape Town is the epitome of an urban/nature interface but one within which chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) face slander for transgressing both the socially constructed human/animal and nature/culture divide, and/or the actual, physical borderlines associated with these divides. The difficulties associated with retaining baboons in nature, because of their ability to traverse physical boundaries, have led to human–baboon conflict. Even though research focusing on baboon biology on the Cape Peninsula is abundant, comparatively little attention has been paid to the human aspects of the conflict. By making use of a social constructionist theoretical framework, I wished to establish what attitudes and values play a defining role in different social constructions of chacma baboons, specifically those who often cross the urban/nature divide; what these different social constructions are; whether they differ among the various stakeholders that were included in this research; and whether there is a willingness amongst stakeholders to adjust to, accommodate, or at least understand “other” social constructions. The research is strongly motivated by a suggestion in the literature that human–human conflict underpins human–wildlife conflict. The main data collection method used in this research project was personal, semi-structured interviews with members of various stakeholder groups that are involved in the Cape Peninsula’s “baboon debate”, i.e. governmental institutions, nongovernmental organisations, researchers, representatives of residential associations, local residents and journalists. In order to increase the trustworthiness of my data and to gain an enhanced understanding of the complex social interactions, practices and belief systems which are embedded within human–baboon conflicts, I also analysed the discourse embedded in numerous forms of documentation that refer to the Cape Peninsula’s baboons. The findings from this research provide evidence that conflicts over beliefs and values, conflicts of interest, and conflicts over process are the prominent underlying causes of human– human conflict regarding baboons and baboon management on the Cape Peninsula. Conflicts over beliefs and values seem to underpin all types of human–human conflict regarding baboons on the Cape Peninsula, as human–baboon conflict is riddled with the Cartesian dualisms of urban (or culture) versus nature; human versus animal; biocentrism versus anthropocentrism; and rationalism versus affective social action. The opposition between the two ontologies of rationalism and affective social action, which reflect divergent ways of thinking about baboons and are central to individual’s support of certain baboon-management techniques, is especially pronounced. Moreover, the ability of the Cape Peninsula’s baboons to transgress the nature/culture, and even the human/animal, borderline not only leads to conflict between humans and baboons, but also among humans. This thesis recommends that, in order to effectively address human–human conflict over beliefs and values, as well as human–baboon conflict, the numerous stakeholders on the Cape Peninsula should identify a common significance of baboons. While I would refrain from declaring that human–human conflict is the actual source of human–baboon conflict, addressing the human dimensions of human–wildlife conflict remains an important though neglected issue.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Skilderagtige Kaapstad is die toonbeeld van ’n stedelike/natuur skeidingsvlak, maar een waarbinne die Kaapse bobbejane (Papio ursinus) beswadder word, omdat hulle die sosiaalgekonstrueerde mens/dier en natuur/kultuur skeidslyn en/of die werklike, fisiese grens wat met hierdie skeidslyn geassosieer is, skend. As gevolg van hul vermoë om fisiese grense te oorkruis, het die probleme met die inperking van bobbejane in die natuur tot mens–bobbejaan konflik gelei. Ondanks die feit dat navorsing met die fokus op bobbejaan-biologie op die Kaapse Skiereiland volop is, is relatief min aandag geskenk aan die menslike aspekte van die konflik. Deur gebruik te maak van ’n sosiaal-konstruksionistiese teoretiese raamwerk, wou ek vasstel watter ingesteldhede en waardes ’n bepalende rol speel in verskillende sosiale konstruksies van Kaapse bobbejane, veral diegene wat dikwels die stedelike/natuur skeidingsvlak oorkruis; wat hierdie verskillende sosiale konstruksies is; of hulle verskil tussen die verskeie rolspelers wat ingesluit is in hierdie navorsingsprojek; en of daar ’n bereidwilligheid is onder belanghebbendes om aan te pas by “ander” sosiale konstruksies, dit tegemoet te kom, of ten minste te verstaan. Die navorsing is sterk gemotiveer deur ’n voorstel in die literatuur dat mens–mens konflik mens–wildlewe konflik onderskraag. Die hoof data-insamelingsmetode wat in hierdie navorsingsprojek gebruik is, was persoonlike, semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met lede van verskillende belanghebbende groepe wat betrokke is in die Kaapse Skiereiland se “bobbejaandebat”, d.w.s regeringsinstellings, nieregeringsorganisasies, navorsers, verteenwoordigers van residensiële verenigings, plaaslike inwoners en joernaliste. Ten einde die betroubaarheid van my data te versterk en om ’n beter begrip te ontwikkel van die ingewikkelde sosiale interaksies, praktyke en oortuigings wat ingebed is in mens–bobbejaan konflikte, het ek ook die diskoers ontleed wat ingebed is in talle vorme van dokumentasie wat verwys na die Kaapse Skiereiland se bobbejane. Die bevindinge van hierdie navorsing verskaf bewyse dat konflikte oor oortuigings en waardes, konflikte van belang, en konflikte oor prosesse die prominente onderliggende oorsake van mens–mens konflik rakende bobbejane en bobbejaanbestuur op die Kaapse Skiereiland is. Konflikte oor oortuigings en waardes blyk onderliggend te wees aan alle vorme van mens–mens konflik ten opsigte van bobbejane in die Kaapse Skiereiland, aangesien mens–bobbejaan konflik deurtrek is met die Cartesiese dualismes van stedelike (of kultuur) teenoor die natuur; mens teenoor dier; biosentrisme teenoor antroposentrisme; en rasionalisme teenoor affektiewe sosiale aksie. Die teenoorgesteldheid tussen die twee ontologieë van rasionalisme en affektiewe sosiale aksie, wat uiteenlopende maniere van dink oor bobbejane weerspieël en sentraal is tot individue se ondersteuning van sekere bobbejaanbestuurtegnieke, is veral ooglopend. Verder lei die vermoë van die Kaapse Skiereiland se bobbejane om die natuur/kultuur en selfs die mens/dier grenslyn te oorkruis, nie slegs tot konflik tussen mense en bobbejane nie, maar ook tussen mense. Hierdie tesis beveel aan dat, ten einde mens–mens konflik rakende oortuigings en waardes, asook mens–bobbejaan konflik, aan te spreek, moet die talle belanghebbendes in die Kaapse Skiereiland ’n gemeenskaplike betekenis van bobbejane identifiseer. Terwyl ek myself sou weerhou om te verklaar dat mens–mens konflik die wesenlike bron van mens–bobbejaan konflik is, bly die menslike dimensies van mens–wildlewe konflik ’n belangrike, dog verwaarloosde kwessie

L’amélioration du bien-être des vaches laitières est un réel enjeu face aux attentes sociétales. Cette thèse a pour objectifs d’identifier (i) les aspects les plus dégradés du bien-être des vaches, (ii)les indicateurs de risque et (iii) les facteurs associés à l’atteinte de la relation homme-animal. Ce projet repose sur une étude épidémiologique utilisant la méthode Welfare Quality R pour évaluer le bien-être des vaches. En général, les boiteries étaient peu fréquentes et les animaux avaient une bonne liberté de mouvement. L’absence de faim et de soif et l’expression des comportements étaient bien respectés mais variables entre élevages. Le confort de couchage, l’absence de blessures et de maladies, le comportement social, l’état émotionnel et la relation homme-animal étaient dégradés et variables. L’écornage était souvent réalisé sans antidouleurs. Les principaux indicateurs de risque pour le bien-être des vaches sont la localisation géographique (pour la soif), la race (faim,comportement social), le logement (confort de couchage, blessures), l’interaction logement-race (état émotionnel) et localisation géographique-système de traite (expression des comportements propres à l’espèce). La mise en place de plan d’actions doit donc tenir compte du type d’élevage. Aucune association entre le système d’élevage et la relation homme animal n’a été trouvée. Les conditions de vêlage, les représentations des éleveurs et le comportement social des vaches étaient par contre associés à ce critère. De plus, de fortes variations entre vaches ont été relevées, suggérant que le tempérament des animaux joue un rôle important
Improving dairy cows’ welfare is a major challenge in response to citizen concerns. The present thesis aimed to identify (i) major welfare problems, (ii) which farm characteristics are associated with the impairment of welfare and (iii) which factors are associated with the impairment of human-animal relationships. We conducted an epidemiological survey and used the Welfare Quality R protocol to assess dairy cows’ welfare. In general, prevalence of lameness was low and cows had opportunities to walk. The absence of hunger and thirst and the expression of species-specific behaviors were achieved but variable between farms. Resting comfort, skin injuries, health, social behavior, cows’ emotional state and human-animal relationships were affected and variable. Disbudding was often performed without pain relief. The main risk indicators of poor cow welfare were farm location (for thirst), breed (hunger, social behavior), housing (resting comfort and skin injuries), the interaction housing-breed (emotional state) and location-milking system (expression of species-specific behaviors). Action plans should be designed according to farm types. The quality of the human-animal relationship was not associated with farm main characteristics, but to calving conditions, farmers’ attitudes and cows’ social behavior. In addition, we observed large variations between-cows in their responses to humans, suggesting that individual behavioral traits of cows play a major role

Membres d’une communauté religieuse fondée au 15éme siècle dans le désert de Thar, les Bishnoï sont de nos jours environ 900 000 et résident encore majoritairement dans cette région du Rajasthan. Etablie originellement sur vingt-neuf préceptes dont plusieurs codifient notamment les relations aux autres vivants, animaux et végétaux, leur doctrine religieuse prône une éthique de vie en accord avec ces préceptes, leur ethnonyme « Bishnoï » signifiant littéralement vingt-neuf, bish : 20, noï : 9. Aujourd’hui, les Bishnoï voient leurs valeurs, leurs représentations et leurs pratiques remises en question par tout un ensemble de facteurs tant socio-économiques qu’écologiques. Avec en filigrane une réflexion sur les ruptures et les continuités dans la transmission de leur doctrine et de ses 29 préceptes, cette thèse interroge les relations et les interactions entre les Bishnoï, les animaux et les arbres de leur environnement, les revendications qui y sont liées ainsi que leurs influences sur les pratiques à la fois idéelles et matérielles de la communauté actuelle. Des pratiques (tout comme les références dogmatiques qui s’y attachent) qui ont pour effet de définir l’identité de ses membres à leurs propres yeux et à ceux du monde extérieur
Members of a religious community founded in the 15th century in the Thar desert, the Bishnoi number about 900 000 today, the majority of whom still live in the Rajasthan region. Originating from 29 precepts, several of which codify relationships to other living beings, animal and vegetal, their religious doctrine upholds a life ethic in accordance with these precepts, their ethnonym "Bishnoï" literally meaning twenty-nine, bish: 20, noï: 9. Today the Bishnoi see their values, representations and practices being questioned by a number of socio-economic and ecological factors. In addition to a look into the ruptures and continuities of the transmission of their doctrine and its 29 precepts, this thesis examines the relationships and interactions between the Bishnoi and the animals and trees in their environment, the demands resulting from them, as well as influences on both material and immaterial practices of the present-day community. Practices (along with their related dogmatic references) that have the effect of defining community members’ identity to themselves and to those of the outside world

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
This thesis is interested in the fiction of Abdulrazak Gurnah, bringing into consideration all the eight novels he has published to date. It explores the representation of human relations, focussing on the theme of power and how it is attained, consolidated, used and contested in the human relations depicted in the novels. A close reading of pre to postcolonial East Africa as well as the regions outside of East Africa in which Gurnah’s novels are also set, through quotidian interactions in micro-spaces, this thesis argues, presents power dealings alternative to one that emphasizes the effect of colonial domination and the failed project of decolonization. The thesis further suggests that inherent in everyday human interactions – whether at home in East Africa or in migrant spaces – are power dealings far removed from macro-political power plays. The interactions to be brought under scrutiny here are those occurring between children and adults, family members, as they interact not only with each other but also with the various environments they occupy. Through a skilful narrative strategy that employs complex narrative perspectives, vivid descriptions, imagery, symbolism and credible characterization, Gurnah affords the reader an opportunity to read East Africa through the basic units of the community, focussing on ordinary everyday lives and interactions. This thesis therefore investigates the different ways in which Gurnah employs narrative strategy in order to depict the various avenues through which power comes into play in diverse areas of human interactions. The focus is on his application of implied authors in the form of multiple narrators and how this technique helps to draw readers in to his texts. It is important to also examine symbolism used especially in the relationship between characters and (mis)use of the spaces they occupy, the significance of rot, filth and squalor in the said spaces as well as the use of irony, coincidences, silences and suppressions. To be specifically interrogated is relations between individuals and the society, parents and children, lovers, employers and employees among others. Even though the dominant theme in Gurnah’s the entire oeuvre is that of migrancy, of characters attempting to construct ideas of home away from home, his treatment of the varied power relationships inherent in the texts warrants investigation.
MT2017

Fung, Suk Chun.
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 328-337).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract also in Chinese.

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library.
A fundamental concern of human-animal studies is the human-animal boundary. The rider-horse relationship challenges this boundary through a degree of intercorporeality that is symbolised by the centaur. The centaur is transformative and generative; it is part-horse, part-human but more than horse-plus-human. This dissertation employs the centaur metaphor together with embodied theories of human-animal relations to explore the intercorporeality of humans and animals, and the permeability of the human-animal boundary.
http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284053
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2007

Klára Černá: Man and his Dog, Dog and its Man Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology Theses, 76 pages, 2013 Work, focused on the role of dog in human relationships. The first part provides an introduction to the problem and its historical, ethological, cultural a biopsychological consequences to human beings. The second part - research, used grounded theory. Focused is on young adults in Prague. The aim is to reveal the basic forms of implications of cohabitation with dog on interpersonal relationships. Keywords Human-animal studie; dog; grouded theory; interpersonal relationships; animal and society