L’animal et la mort

Animals and Death (L’animal et la mort) is the result of an immersive study conducted over two years not far from Paris, in an area bordering Perche, Beauce and Yvelines. Charles Stépanoff documents the accelerated erosion of rural biodiversity, the ethic of those who kill to feed themselves, the pockets of resistance to modernization policies, as well as recent disputes between animal rights activists and people who hunt with hounds. Exploring old vernacular cosmologies and rituals to honor game, the anthropologist reveals the figure of the “empathic predator,” and the paradoxical relationships between hunting, protection and compassion.