Interspecies Politics

Interspecies Politics
Author: Rafi Youatt
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0472131753

Politics "with" the environment

Interspecies Politics

Interspecies Politics
Author: Rafi Youatt
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 047212644X

This book explores the ways that international politics is a form of interspecies politics, one that involves the interactions, ideas, and practices of multiple species, both human and nonhuman, to generate differences and create commonalities. While we frequently think of having an international politics “of” the environment, a deep and thoroughgoing anthropocentrism guides our idea of what political life can be, which prevents us from thinking about a politics “with” the environment. This anthropocentric assumption about politics drives both ecological degradation and deep forms of interhuman injustice and hierarchy. Interspecies Politics challenges that assumption, arguing that a truly ecological account of interstate life requires us to think about politics as an activity that crosses species lines. It therefore explores a postanthropocentric account of international politics, focusing on a series of cases and interspecies practices in the American borderlands, ranging from the US-Mexico border in southern Texas, to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, to Isle Royale, near the US-Canadian border. The book draws on international relations, environmental political theory, anthropology, and animal studies, to show how key international dimensions of states—sovereignty, territory, security, rights—are better understood as forms of interspecies assemblage that both generate new forms of multispecies inclusion, and structure forms of violence and hierarchy against human and nonhuman alike.

When Animals Speak

When Animals Speak
Author: Eva Meijer
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2019-11-26
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1479809772

A groundbreaking argument for the political rights of animals In When Animals Speak, Eva Meijer develops a new, ground-breaking theory of language and politics, arguing that non-human animals speak—and, most importantly, act—politically. From geese and squid to worms and dogs, she highlights the importance of listening to animal voices, introducing ways to help us bridge the divide between the human and non-human world. Drawing on insights from science, philosophy, and politics, Meijer provides fascinating, real-world examples of animal communities who use their voices to speak, and act, in political ways. When Animals Speak encourages us to rethink our relations with other animals, showing that their voices should be taken into account as the starting point for a new interspecies democracy.

Animal Intimacies

Animal Intimacies
Author: Radhika Govindrajan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2018-05-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 022656004X

“A delightful read [and] an important addition to human-animal relations studies.” —Anthropology Matters What does it mean to live and die in relation to other animals? Animal Intimacies posits this central question alongside the intimate—and intense—moments of care, kinship, violence, politics, indifference, and desire that occur between human and non-human animals. Built on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the mountain villages of India’s Central Himalayas, Radhika Govindrajan’s book explores the number of ways that human and animal interact to cultivate relationships as interconnected, related beings. Whether it is through the study of the affect and ethics of ritual animal sacrifice, analysis of the right-wing political project of cow-protection, or examination of villagers’ talk about bears who abduct women and have sex with them, Govindrajan illustrates that multispecies relatedness relies on both difference and ineffable affinity between animals. Animal Intimacies breaks substantial new ground in animal studies, and Govindrajan’s detailed portrait of the social, political and religious life of the region will be of interest to cultural anthropologists and scholars of South Asia as well. “Immerses us in passionate case studies on the multiple relationships between Kumaoni villagers and animals in Uttarakhand.” —European Bulletin of Himalayan Research “A memorable and innovative ethnography.” —Piers Locke, University of Canterbury

Into the Breach

Into the Breach
Author: Mathieu Dubeau
Publisher:
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

Do non-human animals have the potential to augment power relations? Are they, or, can they be, subjects of justice? This dissertation takes a critical and nuanced dive into the historical and contemporary relationship between human dog handlers and military working dogs in order to track the flow of interspecies power relations to explore these questions. Through a close examination of this interspecies relationship, I document how the divergence in political consideration between dogs and humans reveals how power relations operate between and within species. Although some non-human animals possess the ability to augment power relations, they rarely achieve a political status that is equivalent to the most dominant humans, making them vulnerable to oppression. In light of this reality, I argue that interspecies justice, when it comes to our relationships with non-human animals, is not a universalisable set of principles. In fact, under-differentiated responses risk doing more violence to non-human worlds despite promising justice. Instead, our obligations to other non-human animals need to be understood as deeply contextual and informed by analyzing asymmetric relationships that foreclose the opportunity for some beings to pursue flourishing. An interspecies justice demonstrates in the first place the necessary mutual recognition of dependence between living beings; the recognition of our dependence and need of others in the construction of our world demands greater relations of respect. And second, the promise of an interspecies politics recognizes the multitude and diversity of entanglements any particular being shares with others that mutually uplifts and stimulates co-species flourishing. This is perhaps the most insightful contribution of an interspecies justice. Rather than enhancing our power as humans to shape and control, to objectify the ability of others, the recognition of mutual dependence and difference shows us just how fragile the pursuit of an interspecies justice is. The hope for an interspecies politics, then, becomes more respectful reciprocal interspecies relationships that value difference and lead to the creation of social institutions that socialize care and consideration beyond our immediate relationships.

Animal Labour

Animal Labour
Author: Charlotte E. Blattner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2019-12
Genre: Animal welfare
ISBN: 0198846193

Is animal labour inherently oppressive, or can work be a source of meaning, solidarity, and social membership for animals? This challenging question drives this thought-provoking collection which explores the possibilities and complexities of animal labour as a site for interspecies justice.The book assembles an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars who carefully grapple with the many facets, implications, and entanglements of animal labour, and who, crucially, place animals at the heart of their analyses. Can animals engage in good work and have humane jobs? What kindsof labour rights are appropriate for animal workers? Can animals consent to work? Would recognizing animals as workers improve their legal and political status, or simply reinforce the perception that they are beasts of burden? Can a focus on labour help to create or deepen bonds between animaladvocates and other social justice movements? While the authors present a range of views on these questions, their contributions make clear that labour must be taken seriously by everyone interested in more just and ethical multispecies futures.

The Politics of Species

The Politics of Species
Author: Raymond Corbey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2013-09-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1107032601

Experts from a range of disciplines identify the key barriers to a definition of moral respect that includes nonhuman animals.

The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory

The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory
Author: Teena Gabrielson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2016-01-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0191508411

Set at the intersection of political theory and environmental politics, yet with broad engagement across the environmental social sciences and humanities, The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory, defines, illustrates, and challenges the field of environmental political theory (EPT). Featuring contributions from distinguished political scientists working in this field, this volume addresses canonical theorists and contemporary environmental problems with a diversity of theoretical approaches. The initial volume focuses on EPT as a field of inquiry, engaging both traditions of political thought and the academy. In the second section, the handbook explores conceptualizations of nature and the environment, as well as the nature of political subjects, communities, and boundaries within our environments. A third section addresses the values that motivate environmental theorists—including justice, responsibility, rights, limits, and flourishing—and the potential conflicts that can emerge within, between, and against these ideals. The final section examines the primary structures that constrain or enable the achievement of environmental ends, as well as theorizations of environmental movements, citizenship, and the potential for on-going environmental action and change.

Bad Dog

Bad Dog
Author: Harlan Weaver
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2021-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0295748036

Fifty-plus years of media fearmongering coupled with targeted breed bans have produced what could be called “America’s Most Wanted” dog: the pit bull. However, at the turn of the twenty-first century, competing narratives began to change the meaning of “pit bull.” Increasingly represented as loving members of mostly white, middle-class, heteronormative families, pit bulls and pit bull–type dogs are now frequently seen as victims rather than perpetrators, beings deserving not fear or scorn but rather care and compassion. Drawing from the increasingly contentious world of human/dog politics and featuring rich ethnographic research among dogs and their advocates, Bad Dog explores how relationships between humans and animals not only reflect but actively shape experiences of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, breed, and species. Harlan Weaver proposes a critical and queer reading of pit bull politics and animal advocacy, challenging the zero-sum logic through which care for animals is seen as detracting from care for humans. Introducing understandings rooted in examinations of what it means for humans to touch, feel, sense, and think with and through relationships with nonhuman animals, Weaver suggests powerful ways to seek justice for marginalized humans and animals together.

Space, Politics and Aesthetics

Space, Politics and Aesthetics
Author: Mustafa Dikec
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2015-06-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0748686010

Mustafa Dikec reveals the aesthetic premises that underlie Hannah Arendt, Jean-Luc Nancy and Jacques Ranciere's political thinking, and demonstrates how their politics depend on the construction and apprehension of worlds through spatial forms and distrib