The Snake in the Grass: An Ethnography of Snake Encounters at Hartebeespoortdam Snake and Animal Park, South Africa

Abstract

With themes of fear, fascination, and the ethical, affective, and physical labours of care, this dissertation closely examines encounters between zookeepers and the snakes in their care at the Hartbeespoortdam Snake and Animal Park. This thesis explores how relational encounters and institutional concerns shape knowledge, affect, ethical responsibility, and practical work with snakes, drawing on field ethnography and theoretical concepts from Latour (2004), Puig de la Bellacasa (2017), Ginn (2014), and van Dooren (2016). Care consists of multiple layers shaped and constrained by institutional concerns and animal welfare. Death and loss, which are unavoidable in multispecies relationships, highlight the limits and paradoxes of care work with nonhumans in captivity and conservation. This study emphasises that multispecies relationships are always co-becoming, relational, and morally entangled, contributing to broader discussions about human-nonhuman relationships, care and ethics.