Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies

614 Pages·2021·30.676 MB·English

by  Margo DeMello

Margo DeMello
Animals
and
Society
An Introduction to
Human-Animal Studies
Second Edition
Animals and Society

A N I M A L S
A N D S O C I E T Y
An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies
Second Edition
Margo DeMello
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2012, 2021 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: DeMello, Margo, author.
Title: Animals and society / Margo DeMello.
Description: Second Edition. | New York City : Columbia University Press, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020038514 (print) | LCCN 2020038515 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231194846
(hardback) | ISBN 9780231194853 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780231551045 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Human-animal relationships. | Human-animal relationships—History. |
Animals and civilization—History.
Classification: LCC QL85 .D48 2021 (print) | LCC QL85 (ebook) | DDC 590—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038514
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038515
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover image: iStock.com/digi_guru
Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
PART I CONSTRUCTING ANIMALS: ANIMAL CATEGORIES
Chapter 1 Human-Animal Studies 3
What Is Human-Animal Studies? 4
History of HAS 7
Human-Animal Studies as a Way of Seeing 10
Where Are Animals? 12
Defining the Animal 16
Understanding Animals and Their Uses 18
Methodological Problems 20
Theoretical Starting Points 22
Real-World Implications of Human-Animal Studies 29
Coming to Animal Studies, by Susan McHugh 39
Chapter 2 Animal-Human Borders 42
Animals and Humans: The Great Divide? 42
Non-Western Understandings 44
Speciesism and the Rise of the Human-Animal Border 47
Evolution and the Continuity Between the Species 52
contents vi
Chapter 3 The Social Construction of Animals 57
Biological Systems of Classification 59
Other Systems of Classification 60
How Does One Become a Certain Type of Animal? 62
The Sociozoologic Scale 64
A New System of Classification 67
The Social Construction of Animals, by Leslie Irvine 70
PART II USING ANIMALS: HUMAN-ANIMAL ECONOMIES
Chapter 4 Animals “in the Wild” and in Human Societies 75
Animals and Humans in the Paleolithic Era 76
Subsistence Hunting and the Human-Animal Relationship 79
From Subsistence to Sport 80
Colonial Expansion and Animals 82
Controversies Surrounding Subsistence Hunting 84
Modern Relationships with Wildlife: Hunting and Conservation 85
Human-Wildlife Conflicts 88
The Colonial Animal, by Walter Putnam 99
Chapter 5 The Domestication of Animals 102
History of Domestication 102
Results of Domestication 106
Altering the Animal Body 109
Is Domestication Good or Bad? 113
Chapter 6 Display, Performance, and Sport 117
Why Do We Watch Animals? 117
Zoos 119
Marine Mammal Parks 127
The Public Reaction to Zoos and Marine Mammal Parks 130
Circuses 132
Animal Racing 135
Animal Fighting 137
Alternative Ways of Watching Animals 139
Animal Ethics Theory and Practice in the Tourism Industry, by David Fennell 148
contents vii
Chapter 7 The Making and Consumption of Meat 151
Meat Taboos 152
How Animals Become Meat 155
Meat Consumption in the Past 156
Modern Meat Production 157
Why We Eat Meat: The Political Economy of Agribusiness 162
Slaughterhouse Workers 165
Cultural Implications of Modern Meat Production and Consumption 167
Ethics and Meat Eating 169
Chapter 8 The Pet Animal 174
What Makes a Pet a Pet? 175
The Rise of Pet Keeping 178
The Development of the Modern Pet Industry 181
Why We Keep Pets 182
The Human-Pet Relationship 184
Love and Grief 186
Development of Humane Attitudes Through Pets 189
Contradictory Attitudes Toward Pets 191
Pets and Domination 193
Pets as Holy Anomalies, by David Redmalm 201
Chapter 9 Animals and Science 204
The History of Vivisection 205
The Scope of Animal Research and Testing 208
Environmental Enrichment 213
Animals as Stand-Ins for Humans 214
The Social Construction of the Lab Animal 215
The History of the Antivivisection Movement 218
Alternatives to Animal Research and Testing 220
The Battle Over Animal Research Today 223
Mourning Laboratory Animals 227
Chapter 10 Animal-Assisted Activities 233
Animals as Human Assistants 233
Working Animals Today 237
contents viii
Assistance Animals 240
Animal-Assisted Interventions 243
The Human-Animal Bond: Benefits to Humans 245
What About Benefits to Animals? 247
Animal Labor: Thinking (and Acting) with Care, by Kendra Coulter 253
PART III ATTITUDES TOWARD ANIMALS
Chapter 11 Working with Animals 257
Ethnographic Fieldwork 258
People Who Work with Animals 259
Animal Rescue Volunteers 261
Shelter Workers and Veterinarians 264
Ranchers 268
Laboratory Workers 269
Slaughterhouse Workers 270
Working with People Who Work with Animals, by Clinton Sanders 277
Chapter 12 Violence to Animals 280
Institutionalized Violence to Animals 281
Culture-Specific Violence 284
Deviant Violence 286
The Link Between Violence to Animals and Violence to Humans 289
Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse 293
Treatment and Prevention 296
Legislation 297
Animal Abuse and Interpersonal Violence: What Else Do We Need to
Know? by Lisa Lunghofer 305
Chapter 13 Human Oppression and Animal Suffering 308
Interlinked Systems of Exploitation 308
The Roots of Oppression 309
Othering and Essentializing 311
Sexism and Speciesism 313
Racism, Slavery, the Holocaust, and Animal Exploitation 316
What’s the Problem with Comparisons? 320
contents ix
Racism and Animal Advocacy 321
Capitalism and the Expansion of Oppression 325
When “Humans” Are First, Everyone Else Is Last: On the Shared
Ontological Foundations of Racism, Speciesism, and Anthropocentrism,
by Maneesha Deckha 334
PART IV I MAGINING ANIMALS:
ANIMALS IN HUMAN THOUGHT
Chapter 14 Animals in Symbol and Art 339
The Use of Animals in Human Language 340
Animals as Symbols 344
Animals in Artwork 347
Mirrors for Human Identities 353
Art as a Way of Knowing (and Not Knowing) Animals, by Maria Lux 359
Chapter 15 Animals in Religion and Folklore 362
Animals in Religious Thought 362
Animal Tales 367
Animal-Human Transformations 370
Religious Symbolism 373
Animal Cults 374
Sacrificial Lambs 378
Communities of Faith and the Ethical Treatment of Animals 380
What Do Animals and Religion Have to Do with Each Other?
by Laura Hobgood-Oster 387
Chapter 16 Animals in Literature and Film 390
Animals in Literature 391
Animals in Children’s Literature 394
Talking Animals 397
Animals in Film and TV 399
Performing Animals 404
The Internet Is Made of Cats 405
Prying Open Our Critical Awareness: Reading Animality in Literature
and the Arts, by Carrie Rohman 412