Introduction

Abstract

As we write this introduction, Donna Haraway’s The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Signifi cant Otherness (2003) has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Haraway is an influential figure in Animal Studies, an interdisciplinary research field which is concerned with centralizing the animal within human culture and questioning humananimal relations; it is largely preoccupied with Western philosophical models and how these models have too often represented a disregard for the animal. In this manifesto, as in much of her work, Haraway explores the concept of species companionship (here, through her experiences in dog agility competitions). Her investigations around interspecies communication and collaboration are realized specifically through terms of performance as she and her dog, Cayenne Pepper, work together to produce a successful event. The context through which Haraway formulates her ideas around humananimal relations is not dissimilar to that of the theatre — it variously includes embodied collaboration, presence, ‘actors’, ‘directors’, training, theatricalized settings, companionship, amateurs and professionals; it includes joy. Performing Animality is drawn together as a volume to speak to all of these ideas as humans and ‘other animals’ perform. 1 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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