Tribute to Andréa Petitt

Andrea Petitt, a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology with the Hacab project, passed away on Thursday, April 23, surrounded by her loved ones in Sweden, her native country.

An accomplished horseback rider, Andrea had made interspecies relationships between humans, horses, and cattle the focus of her research. She had just published a book with Routledge (The Multispecies Triad of Cattle Ranching: A Horseback Ethnography) and had helped found the MEAM group (Multispecies Ethnographies and Artistic Methods). Her work on interspecies triads and “zoo-cialization” is already considered a major reference in the field.

Andrea was deeply appreciated by her colleagues. Creative and daring, she explored new forms of scholarly writing: poems, “rapstracts”—a portmanteau of rap and abstract—and above all “horseback ethnography,” an ethnography conducted from horseback, which she herself had conceptualized. Her energy, generosity, and ability to inspire enthusiasm left their mark on every project she was involved in. 

We will remember her as a brilliant, inventive, and deeply compassionate researcher.

Our thoughts are with her loved ones.