Chloé Namias Vanden Berghe
Associated member
Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences
MMC (Modern and Contemporary Worlds)
"My research focuses on the socio-ecological worlds of urban wildlife, and more specifically red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). I explore their forms of collective life – interactions between conspecifics, interspecific relationships between humans and foxes, and their urban habitats – to understand how complex animal societies are formed, in a context-specific manner. By combining field-based ethology with the social sciences, I am experimenting with innovative ways of generating knowledge about animals, within what I term the ‘animal social sciences’. My aim is to document and theorise the connections that bind these animals to one another, to humans and to urban infrastructure, in order to shed light on the conditions for a fairer, more sensitive and more sustainable coexistence.”