Critical Theory and Animal Liberation

by Sanbonmatsu, John; Adams, Carol J.; Bell, Aaron; Benton, Ted; Benston, Susan; Boggs, Carl; Davis, Karen; Donovan, Josephine; Gerhardt, Christina; Johnson, Victoria; Llorente, Renzo; Mendieta, Eduardo; Sorenson, John; Soron, Dennis; Stanescu, Vasile; Weisb

• ISBN13: 9781442205802
• ISBN10: 1442205806
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-01-16
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Critical Theory and Animal Liberation is the first collection to look at the human relationship with animals from the critical or _left_ tradition in political and social thought. Breaking with past treatments that have framed the problem as one of _animal rights,_ the authors instead depict the exploitation and killing of other animals as a political question of the first order. The contributions in this volume thus highlight connections between our everyday treatment of animals and other forms of oppression, violence, and domination. Animal domination, the authors suggest, is fundamental to other systems of power, including capitalism and patriarchy. Contributors include well-known writers in the field, such as Carol Adams, author of Living Among the Meat Eaters, and established scholars writing on animals for the first time, such as Carl Boggs and Eduardo Mendieta. The authors draw on critical theory to, among other things, apply Freud's theory of repression to our relationship to the animal, debunk the new _Locavore_ movement, and expose the sexism of the mainstream animal defense movement.

Author Biography

John Sanbonmatsu is associate professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is the author of The Postmodern Prince: Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Politic Subject.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Commodity Fetishism and Structural Violence
Procrustean Solutions to Animal Identity and Welfare Problems	p. 35
Road Kill: Commodity Fetishism and Structural Violence	p. 55
Corporate Power, Ecological Crisis, and Animal Rights	p. 71
Animals, Marxism, and the Frankfurt School
Humanism = Speciesism?: Marx on Humans and Animals	p. 99
Reflections on the Prospects for a Non-Speciesist Marxism	p. 121
Thinking With: Animals in Schopenhauer, Horkheimer, and Adorno	p. 137
Animal Is to Kantianism as Jew Is to Fascism: Adorno's Bestiary	p. 147
Speciesism and Ideologies of Domination
The Dialectic of Anthropocentrism	p. 163
Animal Repression: Speciesism as Pathology	p. 177
Neuroscience (a Poem)	p. 195
Everyday Rituals of the Master Race: Fascism, Stratification, and the Fluidity of ôAnimalö Domination	p. 203
Problems in Praxis
Constructing Extremists, Rejecting Compassion: Ideological Attacks on Animal Advocacy from Right and Left
ôGreenö Eggs and Ham?: The Myth of Sustainable Meat and the Danger of the Local	p. 239
After MacKinnon: Sexual Inequality in the Animal Movement	p. 257
Sympathy and Interspecies Care: Toward a Unified Theory of Eco- and Animal Liberation	p. 277
Notes	p. 295
Index	p. 353
About the Editor and Contributors	p. 365
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