Alternative Worldviews on Human – Nonhuman Relations: The Turkish Case

Literature foundations: Consumer research studies how we attribute meaning to commodities and bring them into our lives (Belk 1988, Miller 2008). Through singularization, commodities take on meaning and enter the universe of unique objects (Kopytoff 1986). Until they are recommodified, they remain less available for exchange (Epp and Price 2010). Today, in most cultures, the permanent constituents of the universe of singular objects are only humans as it is unthinkable to exchange humans for money (Kopytoff 1986). Humans, however, used to share this particular universe with animals who lived parallel lives to humans and roamed freely without any owner (Berger 2009). Today, animals, even historically the closest to us - cats and dogs - are reduced to a level at which they require humans to pull themselves out of the universe of commodities. For example, a cat is a de facto commodity until one pays its price and brings him or her to the universe of singular objects (Corrigan 1997). Intended contribution and findings: To explore an alternative worldview, we went to Istanbul, Turkey where cats and dogs still roam freely. We questioned the commodity status of animals and talked to the local people. We situated these animals in the universe of singular objects, deserving the same rights as humans. As the presence of animals in the universe of singular objects is a companionship offered to our loneliness as species, we also focused on the implications of the cohabitation with another kind in this conceptual universe. Method: The videography reports our observations of human – nonhuman relations in Istanbul, interviews with the local people, and the secondary sources that we relied on to triangulate our interim findings.