Introduction

The field of human–nonhuman animal studies is greatly influenced by both animal rights perspectives and post human discussion. Equine studies in humanities and social science is a quite new area. Human–horse studies in the humanities and the social sciences involve many different subjects: anthropology, philosophy, gender studies, communication studies, ethnology, art history, history of ideas, history, and comparative literature. Studies of the animal have traditionally belonged to the natural sciences, especially ethology, but as the concept of subjectivity can no longer be thought of as exclusively human, and as animals are part of – or at least exist within – society, animals have gained increasing attention in humanities and social sciences. If the humanities and the social sciences take subjectivity, experiences, and different perspectives into account, they can no longer exclude the animal. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.