Human–Companion Animal Relations in Tehran: Anthropological Perspectives on Domestication Dynamics

Background and Aim: This study investigates how domestic dogs in Tehran are transformed into regulated urban companions through intricate cultural, class-based, and biopolitical processes. It seeks to understand how changing patterns of human–animal relations and urban lifestyles in contemporary Iran reshape the place of animals within everyday social life. Data and Method: Utilizing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this qualitative research combines field observations and historical documents with semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with dog keepers, veterinarians, animal rights activists, and shelter managers in Tehran. The gathered data were analyzed and interpreted through Phenomenological Thematic Analysis. Findings: The analysis identifies five distinct mechanisms structuring dog domestication within the urban context of Tehran: the suppression of animal instincts, the emergence of dogs as classed commodities, stratified care practices shaped by socioeconomic status, anthropomorphization as familial subjects, and the biopolitical regulation of excluded animals through institutional shelters. These findings demonstrate that domestication functions as a deliberate cultural and political project rather than a merely natural or biological process. Conclusion: Domestic dogs in Tehran emerge as hybrid beings produced at the intersection of intertwined systems of care, discipline, and class-based power dynamics. Ultimately, this study contributes to urban and human–animal anthropology by conceptualizing companion animals as active social subjects actively shaped by modern urban rationalities in contemporary Iran. Key Message: Companion dogs in Tehran do not merely integrate into urban households; rather, they are actively reconstructed by civilizing, economic, and biopolitical mechanisms. These forces discipline their bodies, stratify their lived experiences along socio-economic class lines, and transform them into potent symbols of specialized care, social status, and controlled nature within the modern metropolis.

کلیدواژه ها:

Companion Animals ، nature ، Human–Animal Relations ، Anthropomorphization ، Civilizing Process