Shared Responsibility in a Multispecies Playground (original) (raw)
Hyenas Like Us: Social Relations with an Urban Carnivore in Harar, Ethiopia
2012
"This thesis is an exploration of the ongoing, dynamic processes which shaped hyena and human relations in a Muslim town in Ethiopia. These processes had their roots in world prehistory; in millions of years of coexistence which is evidenced by the fossilised remains of human and hyena ancestors. Whereas hyenas recently disappeared from much of their former range, they persisted in eastern Ethiopia and figure prominently in the oral traditions and historical accounts of the walled city of Harar. At the time of writing, the hyenas of Harar combined with hyena feeders and tourists in processes in which two hyena feeding places were evolving along different lines. Yet the hyenas were also engaged with Harari people in face-to-face encounters and the maintenance of Harari traditions. Where hyenas were constantly trying to avoid having to interact with people, they were in turn shaping the ways in which people could interact with, conceive of, and form representations of them. Many Harari people recognised this and attested to a kind of engagement with hyenas that is normally reserved for intra-human relations. Under the guidance of an unusual hyena named Willi, I explore here what it means to be engaged with hyenas at an inter-subjective level. Together, we challenge the established ethical, theoretical and methodological principles which guide and separate human and animal research, providing rich material for theoretical debates on humananimal relations."
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2021
What we could call ‘relational non-interventionism’ holds that we have no general obligation to alleviate animal suffering, and that we do not typically have special obligations to alleviate wild animals’ suffering. Therefore, we do not generally have a duty to intervene in nature to alleviate wild animal suffering. However, there are a range of relationships that we may have with wild animals that do generate special obligations to aid – and the consequences of these obligations can be surprising. In this paper, it is argued that we have special obligations to those animals we have historically welcomed or encouraged into our spaces. This includes many wild animals. One of the consequences of this is that we may sometimes possess obligations to actively prevent rewilding – or even to dewild – for the sake of welcomed animals who thrive in human-controlled spaces.
Welcoming, wild animals, and obligations to assist (Ethics, Policy & Environment, 2023)
Ethics, Policy & Environment, 2023
What we could call 'relational non-interventionism' holds that we have no general obligation to alleviate animal suffering, and that we do not typically have special obligations to alleviate wild animals' suffering. Therefore, we do not generally have a duty to intervene in nature to alleviate wild animal suffering. However, there are a range of relationships that we may have with wild animals that do generate special obligations to aid-and the consequences of these obligations can be surprising. In this paper, I argue that we have special obligations to those animals we have historically welcomed or encouraged into our spaces. This includes many wild animals. One of the consequences of this is that we may sometimes possess obligations to actively prevent rewilding-or even to dewild-for the sake of welcomed animals who thrive in human-controlled spaces.
Intervention or Protest: Acting for Nonhuman Animals
Intervention or Protest: Acting for Nonhuman Animals, 2016
"...It is within this atmosphere [of widening consideration of nonhuman animals/nonhuman animal issues, changes in the field, divisions in the movement, and so on], and towards this fractured ‘movement’, that this book is conceived. The title of this anthology is Intervention or Protest: Acting for Nonhuman Animals, a somewhat simple heading but one that captures, and attempts to highlight and address, the main points brought out above. The aim of this book is to be both theoretical and practical, to be both a contribution to the scholarly debates but also to put forward positions that can, and intend, to be real-world practicable. Further, this book considers issues that are important in making a difference to nonhuman animals. With this practical aim, and the careful theoretical deliberations behind them, these two foci are intended to influence both the way the movement and the scholarly fields go forward. It is the hope that this not only bridges the gap between theory and action, and shows that this division need not be, but also that by working together an effective way forward for nonhuman animals can be reached. And so the aim of this book is twofold: first, to be both a contribution to theory and practice, and second, to highlight ways forward on actionable issues for nonhuman animals that are also critical for theorists to consider. In line with these aims this book is focused on four key areas: (i) how can the movement for nonhuman animals be strengthened or how should it go forward?, (ii) how should we act for nonhuman animals?, (iii) ought we intervene for nonhuman animals, and if so how far and in which areas (e.g. direct action, violence, protest, in nature)?, and (iv) what other areas can we act for nonhuman animals in that we may not be considering already? These four questions are large areas that have both theoretical and practical importance within interspecies ethics/studies and society/the movement. Within current political, social, and ethical debates – both in academia and society – activism and how individuals should approach issues facing nonhuman animals have become increasingly important ‘hot’ issues. Individuals, groups, advocacy agencies, and governments have all espoused competing ideas for how we should approach nonhuman use and exploitation. Ought we proceed through liberation? Abolition? Segregation? Integration? As nonhuman liberation, welfare, and rights’ groups increasingly interconnect and identify with other ‘social justice movements’, resolutions to these questions have become increasingly entangled with questions of what justice and our ethical commitments demand on this issue, and the topic has become increasingly significant and divisive. These four areas essential questions to be asked in regard to each of these, and within this volume they are answered by drawing on both theory and practice, theorists and activists, and interdisciplinary ideas in order to provide grounded, yet actionable, ways forward. The contributors within this volume offer new insights into all of these areas, and while allowing further debate to flourish they offer concrete suggestions for action and change in everyday practice; both on a large and small scale. This book is therefore intended not only to provide new and interesting insight into the area and important contemporary discussions, but also to constructively aid the nonhuman movement and unite theory and practice on the crucial issues. With the nonhuman movement and its past approaches currently being questioned as a success, more nonhumans than ever being harmed and exploited, and a growing gulf between activists and scholars, this book attempts to be a bridge over these gaps and move both theory and practice – and thus the movement and field – forward. The literature on interspecies ethics/studies is, if not as wide as other fields, still significant and growing daily. Within this literature questions on intervention have only recently been receiving attention. With the current ‘political turn’ in the field – i.e. a move away from more traditional ethical approaches to nonhuman animal issues to more politically-based positions – questions regarding how the field, and the movement as a whole, can be improved and have more impact have also begun to be raised. It is by regarding these recent debates that this book specifically fits within the literature. As such, this book can be broken down into three areas. While each chapter covers various topics which often overlap others, the chapters have been arranged both in order to complement each topic with those that come before and after, and as they fit with these three themes. The first five chapters largely focus on broad issues that are of importance to interspecies ethics/studies and the movement as a whole. Questions such as how the movement can be improved, what can be learned from other social movements, and how activism in general should move forward can be found in this section of the book. Chapters six through eleven consider questions relating to intervention in various situations, differing scales, and in regard to different questions. Questions such as whether intervention is conceivable, how we should intervene, how far, in what circumstances, and whether we should recompense nonhuman animals for past wrongs are the focus of this section of the book. Finally, while all of the contributions to this volume offer new insights, chapters ten and eleven also provide new areas within the debate to consider, and new topics for activists to take into consideration...." (Excerpt from the book's introduction) -Contents- Acknowledgements List of Contributors Introduction 1. Saving Nonhumans: Drawing the Threads of a Movement Together Andrew Woodhall & Gabriel Garmendia da Trindade 2. Putting Nonhuman Animals First: A Call for a Pragmatic and Realistic Turn in Normative Theorising Jens Tuider 3. Animal Activism and Interspecies Change Eva Meijer 4. The Role of Activist and Media Communication in Helping Humanity Establish its Responsibility toward Fellow Animals Carrie Packwood Freeman 5. Beyond Complicity and Denial: Nonhuman Animal Advocacy and the Right to Living Justly Kurtis Boyer, Guy Scotton & Katherine Wayne 6. Nonhuman Animals and Sovereignty: On Zoopolis, Failed States, and Institutional Relationships with Free-Living Nonhuman Animals Josh Milburn 7. Are Nonhuman Animals owed Compensation for the Wrongs Committed to Them? Julia Mosquera 8. And the Animals Show Their Veins: Predation, Vivisection and Moral Innocence Wayne Williams 9. The Limits of Intervention in Nature on Behalf of Wild Animals and the Limits of Ethics Patrizia Setola 10. A (Human) Rights-Based Approach to Natural Disaster Intervention for Nonhuman Animals Lauren Traczykowski 11. Climate Justice for Wildlife: A Rights-Based Account Julius Kapembwa & Joshua Wells Index