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Philosophy

University of Wollongong

Animal Studies Journal

Critical animal studies

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Not Another Plant-Based Documentary: A Critical Review Of Eating Our Way To Extinction, Melissa Plisic Jan 2023

Not Another Plant-Based Documentary: A Critical Review Of Eating Our Way To Extinction, Melissa Plisic

Animal Studies Journal

Despite mounting evidence that industrial animal agriculture is a formidable force of climate change and mass extinction, many humans remain impervious to this knowledge. Eating Our Way to Extinction is a timely documentary that takes this issue head on. This film review is guided by Alexandra Juhasz’s explanation of media praxis as ‘an enduring, mutual, and building tradition that theorizes and creates the necessary conditions for media to play an integral role in cultural and individual transformation’ (299). Eating Our Way to Extinction attends to some of the most popular strawman arguments against veganism and is widely accessible. That being …


Learning Hope In The Anthropocene: The Party For The Animals And Hope As A Political Practice, Eva Meijer Jan 2022

Learning Hope In The Anthropocene: The Party For The Animals And Hope As A Political Practice, Eva Meijer

Animal Studies Journal

This article investigates the role of hope in politics, in the context of the current climate crisis. Hoping for positive transformation may seem naïve and or a way to avoid action, but there is a close connection between hope and democratic action. Understood as a collective political practice, hope can contribute to imagining and articulating alternative futures, and motivate action. The first part of the paper explicates the relevance of the work of Ernst Bloch for the challenges of the Anthropocene. It focuses specifically on learning hope as a collective political practice, the function of utopias in fostering political imagination, …


On The Origins Of The Anthropological Machine: Sacrificial Dispositif And Equality, Chiara Stefanoni Jan 2020

On The Origins Of The Anthropological Machine: Sacrificial Dispositif And Equality, Chiara Stefanoni

Animal Studies Journal

This article takes a genealogical approach to the material origin of what Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has called the ‘anthropological machine’, analyzing the dispositif by which the ontological and axiological dualism between the ‘human’ and the ‘animal’ first took place in archaic societies. Using some key concepts of René Girard’s anthropology, it is possible to argue that this dualism is rooted in the violent practice of victimage sacrifice. In other words, I claim that the anthropological machine is originally performed by a sacrificial dispositif. Though in modern society the human/animal dichotomy is performed by other dispositifs, the trace of …


From Rice Eaters To Soy Boys: Race, Gender, And Tropes Of ‘Plant Food Masculinity’, Iselin Gambert, Tobias Linné Jan 2018

From Rice Eaters To Soy Boys: Race, Gender, And Tropes Of ‘Plant Food Masculinity’, Iselin Gambert, Tobias Linné

Animal Studies Journal

Tropes of ‘effeminized’ masculinity have long been bound up with a plant-based diet, dating back to the ‘effeminate rice eater’ stereotype used to justify 19th-century colonialism in Asia to the altright’s use of the term ‘soy boy’ on Twitter and other social media today to call out men they perceive to be weak, effeminate, and politically correct (Gambert and Linné). This article explores tropes of ‘plant food masculinity’ throughout history, focusing on how while they have embodied different social, cultural, and political identities, they all serve as a tool to construct an archetypal masculine ideal. The analysis draws on a …


Horses In Modern, New, And Contemporary Circus, Katie Lavers Jan 2015

Horses In Modern, New, And Contemporary Circus, Katie Lavers

Animal Studies Journal

Circus is an art form that developed around horses and trick riding. Philip Astley, an excavalry man who had recently returned to London after fighting in Europe in the Seven Years War (1756- 63), founded Modern Circus when he introduced clowns, musicians and acrobats to cover the changeover in his riding displays. Daring, acrobatic stunt riding remained the central most important element in modern circus. The strong sense of connection developed between a cavalryman and his horse through the sense of shared mortality on the battlefield was an important element informing the presentation of horses in modern circus. Running counter …