Multispecies care practices in the Anthropocene: understanding ways of life in rural tourism

Abstract

This theoretical essay aims to discuss how the analysis of multispecies care practices can contribute to the understanding of ways of life via rural tourism in the context of the anthropocene. A literature review was carried out seeking to relate multispecies care practices in the Anthropocene and rural tourism. The argumentative path was carried out as follows: first, we sought to elucidate about multispecies care practices; from now on, characteristics that permeate the practice of rural tourism were evidenced and, finally, approximations were made between multispecies care practices and rural tourism, with a view to elucidating ways that allow a better understanding of the phenomenon considering ways of life in the Anthropocene. We systematize the contribution of our analysis in three basic axes: (1) a perspective of multispecies care allows us to broaden the understanding of the practice of rural tourism by highlighting the situated and embodied entanglements that constitute plants, humans and other animals; (2) this expansion makes it possible to take into account theoretically the agencies of these other beings to think about forms of joint life; (3) at the same time that it shows that, even in the case of care practices, these practices are neither homogeneous nor harmonious, but imply power relations and different degrees of vulnerability for humans and non-humans. We conclude that multispecies care practices can be relevant analytical tools in organizational studies on the Anthropocene, as they contribute to the understanding of the organization of rural ways of life in spaces in which rural tourism is a relevant economic and cultural practice.