Photo: courtesy of the artist
The Multispecies Family
Harberts’s commentary, with all its benevolent sexism and speciesism, indexes a perceived recent shift in family life in the United States — one that he hoped would ensure the viability of his business. As Morris’s documentary more broadly shows, the pet cemetery is a good place to begin thinking about the supplementing of pets into humanized structures of parenthood and partnership over the course of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.
This content is available with a Digital or Premium subscription only. Subscribe to read the full text and access all our Features, Off-Features, Portfolios, and Columns!
Already have a Digital or Premium subscription?
Don’t want to subscribe? Additional content is available with an Esse account. It’s free and no purchase will ever be required. Create an account or log in:
