Dr Samantha Hurn
Associate Professor
Anthropology
Office hours by appointment so please email me to arrange a mutually convenient time.
I am a social anthropologist, but my research and teaching is mostly concerned with 'anthrozoology' or how humans interact with other animals in a diverse range of contexts. I have a broad research profile, but my primary areas of expertise relate to the 'culture' and ethics of the veterinary profession, morethan human ageing, palliative and end of life care, zoological and wildlife medicine, euthanasia, veterinary mental health, One Health, zoonotic disease; animal rescue and rehabilitation; the exotic pet trade, the welfare of wild animals kept as pets, motivations for owning particular species; street dog management and welfare; zoo animal management and welfare; human perceptions of animals; the role of media in shaping perceptions of animals; children and animals; wildlife/eco tourism, and human-wildlife conflict; agricultural production, and attitudes towards the consumption of animal products. I have conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Africa (Swaziland and South Africa) and across Europe. While anthrozoology is my real passion my research interests and expertise cover a wide range of thematic and theoretical areas of much broader and traditional anthropological focus and interest. These include medical anthropology; environmental anthropology; ritual and sacrifice; development; globalisation; migration and diaspora; ethnicity and nationalism; kinship and gender; biopolitics and power; tourism; neo-colonialism; exchange and reciprocity; material culture; visual anthropology; crime, deviance and risk taking; medical anthropology; the occult; religious syncretism; spiritual landscapes, pilgrimage and monasticism; agrarian change and diversification; food production and consumption; mental health.
I have a broad methodological repertoire, but specialise in qualitative methods including multispecies ethnography, autoethnography, interviews, surveys, and focus groups. I am a passionate advocate for the importance of reflexivity in research, and am also keen on exploring creative research methods, including different participatory and artistic practices, and considering how sensory engagement informs knowledge and understanding. Wherever possible I try to include my research participants as active subjects in the research process.
I am the Director of the Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics (EASE) working group, Programme Director for the MA in Anthrozoology and PhD programme in Anthrozoology here at Exeter.
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.
I am also a Mental Health First Aider.
I deliver the CPD module 'Anthrozoology for the Veterinary Profession' at the Royal Veterinary College
For more information about current projects see the Exeter Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics (EASE) websites: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/centres/ease/ and https://anthrozoologyassymbioticethics.wordpress.com/
Publications:
Hurn, S., Badman-King, A., and Cousquer, G. (forthcoming) Anthrozoology for the Veterinary Profession. Wiley.
Hurn, S. et al. (forthcoming 2026) Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics: Reframing Human-Animal Interactions. London: Routledge. Available to pre-order here.
Hurn, S. and Badman-King, A. 2026. 'Commentary: The 'insect challenge' - a response to Birch' Journal of Practical Ethics.
Hurn, S. 2024. 'Then there were 3, 2, 1, 0. Grieving with and for a murine family' in Douglas, C. and Whitehouse, A. (eds) 2024. More-than-Human Ageing. Animals, Robots and Care in Later Life. Rutgers Uni Press.
Badman-King, A., Rice, T., Hurn, S., Rose, P. and Reed, A. (2024) Should we keep quiet at the zoo? Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics.To access the publication click here
Hurn, S. 2024. Then there were 3, 2, 1, 0. Grieving with and for a Murine Family. In Douglas, C. and Whitehouse, A., (eds). More-than-Human Aging: Animals, Robots, and Care in Later Life. Rutgers University Press.
Hurn, S. 2023. An Individual’s Lived Experiences of Taking Cannabis-Based Medicinal Products (CBMPs) to Treat Anxiety. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(18), p.6776.
Hurn, S. 2023. Four Legs Good, Three Legs Bad? An Aesthetics of Animal Dignity. In Challenger, M. (ed) Animal Dignity. Bloomsbury Press.
Rice, T., Reed, A., Badman-King, A., Hurn, S. and Rose, P., 2023. A desirable privation: Exploring silence as a mode of zoo visiting. TRACE∴ Journal for Human-Animal Studies, 9, pp.6-32.
Rice, T., Badman‐King, A., Hurn, S., Rose, P. and Reed, A., 2021. Listening after the animals: sound and pastoral care in the zoo. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 27(4), pp.850-869.
Rice, T., Reed, A., Badman-King, A., Hurn, S. and Rose, P., 2021. Listening to the zoo: challenging zoo visiting conventions. Ethnos, pp.1-20.
Hurn, S., 2020. Animal communication and communicating with animals. In Stanlaw, J. (Ed.) The International Encyclopaedia of Linguistic Anthropology. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Hurn, S. 2019. Bois y cobs : The place of autochthonous horses in rural Welsh cultural identity in Guest, K. and Mattfield, M. (eds) Horse Breeds and Human Society: Purity, Identity and the Making of the Modern Horse. London: Routledge. To access accepted proof click here
Hurn, S. and Badman-King, A. (2019). ‘Care as an alternative to killing? Reconceptualising veterinary end of life care’ Medical Anthropology Quarterly[Special issue edited by Brown, H. and Nading, A.] To access accepted proof click here
Hurn, S. (2019). Exposing the harm in euthanasia: Ahimsa and an alternative view on animal welfare as expressed in the beliefs and practices of the Skanda Vale ashram, west Wales. In Linzey, A. and Linzey, C. (eds.) Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics. London: Routledge.
Hurn, S. 2018. From the horse’s mouth. In: Bubandt, N. O. (ed.) A non-secular Anthropocene: Morethanhuman Working Papers. Denmark: Aarhus University. To access a copy click here
Hurn, S. et al. 2018. Exeter Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics (EASE) working group's written evidence to the UK government's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) commons select committee - pre-legislative scrutiny on the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentencing and Recognition of Sentience) Bill (draft dated 12 December 2017). Exeter, Devon, UK: University of Exeter. To see the submission click here
Hurn, S. 2017. ‘Multispecies ethnography’ Sage Research Methods Datasets. http://methods.sagepub.com/datasets[live December 2017]
Hurn, S. 2017. Human-Animal Relations (HAR). Fuentes, A. (ed) The International Encyclopedia of Primatology. 1–7. DOI: 10.1002/9781119179313.wbprim0451
Hurn, S. 2016. Animals as producers, consumers and consumed: the complexities of trans-species sustenance in a multi-faith community. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology. DOI 10.1080/00141844.2015.1107611
Hurn, S. (Ed.) 2016. Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures. London: Routledge.
Hurn, S. 2016. Introduction. In Hurn, S. (Ed.) Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures. London: Routledge.
Hurn, S. 2016. Land of beasts and dragons: Modern myth-making in rural Wales. In Hurn, S. (Ed.) Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures. London: Routledge.
Hurn, S. 2016. ‘Gifts for the gods? The present and future of sacrifice’ in Murray, C. A. (Ed.) Diversity of Sacrifice: Form and Function of Sacrificial Practices in the Ancient World and Beyond. Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology Series. Albany: SUNY Press.
Hurn, S. 2015. Baboon Cosmopolitanism: More-Than-Human Moralities in a Multispecies Community. In Nagai, K., Jones, K., Landry, D., Mattfeld, M., Rooney, C., & Sleigh, C. (Eds.) Cosmopolitan Animals. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hurn, S. 2015. Anthrozoology: an important subfield in anthropology. In Hartung, G. & Herrgen, M. (Eds.). (2014). Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie: Jahrbuch 2/2014. Springer-Verlag, 179 - 188.
Hurn, S. 2013. Confessions of a Vegan Anthropologist. In A. Lavis, & E. J. Abbots (Eds.). Why we eat, how we eat: Contemporary encounters between foods and bodies. Ashgate Publishing.
Hurn, S. 2012. Humans and Other Animals: Human-Animal Interactions in Cross-Cultural Perspective. London: Pluto Press.
Hurn, S. 2011. ‘Like Herding Cats! Managing conflict over wildlife heritage on South Africa’s Cape Peninsula’ Journal of Ecological and Environmental Anthropology. 6 (1): 39 – 53.
Hurn, S. 2011. ‘Dressing down: Clothing animals, disguising animality’ Civilizations. 59 (2): 123 – 138.
Hurn, S. 2010. 'What's in a name? Anthrozoology, human-animal studies, animal studies or something else?' Anthropology Today. June 2010. Volume 26 (3): 27 – 28.
Hurn, S. 2009. ‘Here be dragons? No, big cats! Predator symbolism in rural West Wales’ Anthropology Today. Volume 25 (1): 6 – 11.
Hurn, S. 2008. ‘The ‘Cardinauts’ of the Western coast of Wales: Exchanging and exhibiting horses in the pursuit of fame’ Journal of Material Culture. Volume 13 (3): 335 – 355.
Hurn, S. 2008. ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It? The interplay between sex and gender in the commercial breeding of Welsh cobs’ Society & Animals. 16 (1): 23 – 44.
Awards:
2023/24 Above and Beyond award for development of new PGT programmes.
2021/22 Above and Beyond award for PhD supervision
2019/20 Above and Beyond award for Teaching
Academic year 2018/19 Above and Beyond award for PhD supervision.
Academic year 2018/19 Exeter Student Guild Teaching Awards: Best Supervisor.
Academic year 2017/18 Exeter Student Guild Teaching Awards: Best Supervisor.
Academic year 2015/16 Gold award in Exeter’s ‘Above and Beyond’ scheme
Academic year 2015/16 Multiple nominations for the Exeter Student Guild Teaching Awards: Best supervisor; Best lecturer.
Academic year 2014/15 Multiple nominations per category for the Exeter Student Guild Teaching Awards: Best supervisor; Innovative Teaching; Research Inspired Teaching; Best feedback provider; Most supportive member of staff; Best lecturer, and was shortlisted for Best supervisor.
Academic year 2014/15 Silver award in Exeter’s ‘Above and Beyond’ scheme
Academic year 2013/14 Multiple nominations for the Exeter Student Guild Teaching Awards: Best lecturer; Innovative teaching.
Academic year 2013/14 Merit Award by the SSIS Dean at Exeter
2013 recipient of the Higher Education Academy and Association of Social Anthropologists Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Anthropology.
Academic year 2012/13 Multiple nominations for the Exeter Student Guild Teaching Awards: Best Lecturer.
2012 recipient of the Higher Education Academy and Association of Social Anthropologists Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Anthropology.
2011 the documentary film of my research project ‘Riding the Trod’ commended as an important piece of Welsh cultural heritage and was added to the National Library of Wales digital
archive: https://vimeo.com/15655164
2010 Humane Society of the United States Distinguished Course Award for the MA in Anthrozoology. 2008 Journal of
Material Culture prize for best paper (Cardinauts of the Western Coast of Wales).
2003 recipient of the UCL Anthropology Department PhD studentship.
Research supervision:
I am interested in supervising any research which explores human relationships with other life forms, especially nonhuman animals, or which speaks to any of my research interests outlined below. I am also interested in experimental research methods and inter- or multi-disciplinary approaches, as well as research which has applied dimensions.