Jérôme Michalon (associate member)

Jérôme is a sociologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and is currently working at the Triangle research unit (UMR 5206 – University of Lyon). His main research interests lie in human-animal relationships, science studies, sociology of mobilization, and sociology of health. His work consists in a sociological exploration of social dynamics within the “benevolence towards animals’ communities”. His PhD dissertation about Animal-Assisted Therapy as a social phenomenon was published in 2014 (Panser avec les animaux. Sociologie du soin par le contact animalier, Presses de Mines, Paris). He tried to understand how being involved in human health care has changed the social status of some animals namely dogs and horses , contributing to getting their “personhood” acknowledged and valued. He is also working on animal rights activism and especially the links between advocacy and the academia – and the veterinary profession. His contribution to RULNAT consists in the collaborative work with Gaëlle Ronsin on the trial of two fishermen accused of beheading seals in Brittany (France).

http://triangle.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?article7060

Selected publications

Book

Articles & Chapters

  • 2020 Michalon, J. « The Rise of Therapy Animals’ Personhood. Note on the Ontological Dimensions of Professional Dynamics », Humanimalia. A journal of human/animal interface studies 11(2). (pdf : https://humanimalia.org/article/view/9456/9943)

Gaëlle Ronsin (associate member)

Gaëlle is a socio-anthropologist, lecturer at the University of Franche-Comté and associate fellow at the research and training center “Environment and society” (École normale supérieure of Paris; Centre Alexandre Koyré). She works on territorial processes to conserve biodiversity. Her research focuses on ways to compose relations between sciences and nature, especially inside protected areas (mountains or coasts). She has been developing fieldwork about the way of preserving or exploiting seals, marine animals which navigate between different representations and categories. She has conducted observations and fieldwork about a legal case in Brittany (France) which concerned the decapitation of seals by fishermen (with J. Michalon, associate member of the RULNAT project). This case questions both how different registers of animal protection converge (or not) in a trial and the status granted to animals in legal areas where different interests and expertise coexist.   

http://lasa.univ-fcomte.fr/pages/fr/gaelle-ronsin-19966.html

Selected Publications

Books

2022 Ronsin, G. Sociologie des conseils scientifiques: un millefeuille scientifique pour protéger la nature. Peter Lang.

Articles & Chapters

2021 Ronsin, G. « Protéger des espaces naturels : constat d’une efficience limitée et propositions pour changer de paradigme », Natures Sciences Sociétés, 29(2). (Open Access)

2021 Ronsin, G., N. Lewis & G. Brisson « Tuer en trois étapes : trajectoire de normalisation de la chasse aux phoques canadienne face à la cause animale et aux adaptations locales », Géographie et culture, 115 (1). (Open Access)

2020 Ronsin, G., N. Lewis & G. Brisson « De la mer à la viande. Requalification de la chair de phoque au Québec depuis 2000. », Techniques & Culture, Varia, 2020. (Open Access)