focus groups

Invisible animals: Exploring public discourses to understand the contemporary status of donkeys in Britain

Established representations of donkeys in western literature and popular culture have often been negative, portraying the animals as stupid, inept, and bad tempered. To understand whether such representations are reflected in contemporary understandings of donkeys, we constructed a digitized body of texts (a corpus) from contemporary (public-facing) news articles and (public-produced) social media posts about donkeys, which we analyzed using quantitative and qualitative language analysis techniques drawn from corpus linguistics and discourse analysis. We supplemented this with focus groups conducted with members of the public to gather insights and reflections on key patterns of representation in two key news texts identified in the linguistic analysis. This combined approach, which is novel in its application to animal welfare topics, revealed that donkeys are most commonly represented as figures of entertainment, ridicule, and as victims of hardship and suffering (i.e., animals in need). We argue that such representations can sideline, obscure and “invisibilize” the real animals, leading to persistent misunderstandings and false conceptions about donkeys, which are further perpetuated through language use and can be difficult to disrupt and change. These findings have important implications for animal welfare, education programs, and public communication about donkeys. Finally, we highlight areas where incorrect, unhelpful, and potentially damaging representations can be challenged by those seeking to improve the contemporary status of donkeys.

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Animal representations: using participatory practices to co-produce discursive understandings of donkeys and donkey welfare

Cara Clancy
Emma McClaughlin
Fiona Cooke
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Language and communication are one of the primary means through which popular ideas are generated and shared. Those with institutional power and influence (e.g. the media, government) shape public discourse and reinforce collective attitudes and action (Stibbe, 2001, 2012). Studies have shown that the perception and treatment of animals is heavily influenced by language (Goatly, 2006; Stibbe, 2012; Cook & Sealey, 2017; Franklin, 2020). In this paper, we explore the use of participatory practices to co-produce discursive understandings of donkeys and donkey welfare. By incorporating knowledge exchange practices into the research design, researchers can communicate findings, gather feedback the research, and elicit reactions on specific themes and topics to develop the analysis in an iterative way.

We carried out a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of a 1m-word corpus (digitised body texts) of language from social media and mainstream news about donkeys (McClaughlin et al., under review). . In the statistically salient findings from this analysis, we identified key topics and stories to use as stimulus material (tweets, texts, images, and videos) to generate comment, debate and group discussion through a series of focus groups. This unique participatory methodology revealed that popular discourses often ‘invisibilise’ or obscure the real animal. Popular representations of donkeys can overlook their behavioural and psychological needs and perpetuate negative stereotypes. By identifying common misconceptions and stereotypes of donkeys, our research contributed to the work of The Donkey Sanctuary – to transform the lives of donkeys in need worldwide by fostering greater understanding, collaboration and support. Finally, we offer recommendations for how research, communication and education can be brought together to improve animal welfare.

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