Human-animal relations in modern urban and rural societies: food security, technology, resources

Abstract (English)

The panel proposes to consider various aspects of human-animal relations in various ethnic cultures and landscapes, as well as in the modern urban and rural societies. Animals are an integral part of the life of all communities around the world. Relations between people and animals are determined by the different functions of the latter in various cultures: they are usually considered a source of food, labor force, assistant, friend, sacred being. Animals are active actors who, interacting with humans, acquire their role assigned to them depending on the circumstances. Special attention will be paid to the position of humans and animals in the worldview structure, their interdependence and cooperation in nomadic cultures, in which human success in obtaining resources that can support their existence directly depends on animals.
In the regions under study, many peoples and local communities maintain their livelihoods thanks to animals, both domestic and wild. The research of the autonomy of their food complex is especially relevant, especially in remote, hard-to-reach areas where the delivery of products is limited. In such areas, animals are the main source of food products and materials for the manufacture of household items (clothing, shelter covers, insulation, etc.). Of particular importance in ensuring food security is the breeding of local livestock that are adapted to local geoclimatic conditions. A pressing problem is the search for reliable and cost-effective technologies for the production and storage of food resources, as well as the development of ways to reduce the risks of food shortages. It is important to maintain the skills and abilities that allow food products to be produced directly on site and exchanged between local communities.
We also propose to understand the specifics of human-animal relations in modern society without a deep retrospective (employing archaeological data), which reveals the origins and shows the dynamics of these relations, starting from the time of the initial development of the region by hunter-gatherer fishermen of mobile and semi-sedentary variants and the subsequent transition to a producing economy and sedentarism with the preservation of elements of an appropriative economy.