Else Vogel

Else Vogel

  • Research Fellow

Dr. Else Vogel is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology of Health, Care and the Body at the University of Amsterdam (UvA); the co-editor of The Imposter as Social Theory – Thinking with Gatecrashers, Cheats, and Charlatans (Bristol University Press); and serves on the editorial board of the anthropological journal Etnofoor.

Her current research explores how values come together and are negotiated in a world caught between the growing demand for meat, pressing ecological challenges, and rising concerns for animal welfare. Developing the emerging fields of environmental anthropology and ‘multi-species ethnography’, she theorizes how different human-animal relations are navigated in practice by those involved in food production. Supported by a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council, her ethnographic research explores how farm animal care involves negotiation between various notions of ‘the good – animal welfare, financial interests, public health, and sustainability. Her key focus is on how veterinarians – professionals who crucially shape contemporary human-animal relationships – negotiate diverse concerns and contribute to changes in the livestock sector.

For her doctorate, she examined care practices targeting obesity as part of the ERC project ‘The Eating Body in Western practice and theory’ led by Annemarie Mol. While dominant approaches to obesity emphasize self-control and bodily discipline, Dr. Vogel articulated alternatives that encourage other mind-body relations. This work has led to a new theoretical perspective through which biomedical norms and standards (e.g. on healthy eating) may be critically evaluated for their broad practical effects. She has continued to study self-care practices throughout her postdoc at the Values group in Linkoping University, led by Steve Woolgar, and has focused her work on Dutch rehabilitation centers targeting chronic pain and fatigue.