Ethnographic Ecstasis

This article uses autoethnography to reflect on the author’s evolving commitment to vegetarianism as an anthropologist. The study is situated within the context of ethnographic research in South Korea, which the author began as an omnivore in 2012. A key challenge during this research was grappling with the status of Korean dogs as both elusive commodities and cultural symbols, existing on a spectrum between commodification and singularization. This tension prompted the author to reconsider the ways in which animals are categorized in European contexts and beyond. This struggle also led to a deeper understanding of the violence inherent in concealing animal slaughter and in designating certain animals as “companions” while others are excluded from this status. Drawing on the philosophical works of Jacques Derrida and Simone Weil, the article explores how this ethnographic experience became an “ecstatic” encounter that pushed the author “outside of themselves,” ultimately fostering an awareness of the “embodied vulnerability” shared with other animals.