Sister Species: Women, Animals and Social Justice
208
Sister Species: Women, Animals and Social Justice
208Paperback(1st Edition)
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Overview
This anthology presents bold and gripping—sometimes horrifying—personal narratives from fourteen activists who have personally explored links of oppression between humans and animals, including such exploitative enterprises as cockfighting, factory farming, vivisection, and the bushmeat trade. Sister Species asks readers to rethink how they view "others," how they affect animals with their daily choices, and how they might bring change for all who are abused. These essays remind readers that women have always been important to social justice and animal advocacy, and they urge each of us to recognize the links that continue to bind all oppressed individuals. The astonishing honesty of these contributors demonstrates with painful clarity why every woman should be an animal activist and why every animal activist should be a feminist.
Contributors are Carol J. Adams, Tara Sophia Bahna-James, Karen Davis, Elizabeth Jane Farians, Hope Ferdowsian, Linda Fisher, Twyla François, Christine Garcia, A. Breeze Harper, Sangamithra Iyer, Pattrice Jones, Lisa Kemmerer, Allison Lance, Ingrid Newkirk, Lauren Ornelas, and Miyun Park.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780252078118 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Illinois Press |
| Publication date: | 05/23/2011 |
| Edition description: | 1st Edition |
| Pages: | 208 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d) |
| Age Range: | 16 - 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
sister species
women, animals, and social justiceuniversity of illinois press
Copyright © 2011 Lisa KemmererAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-252-03617-0
Introduction
this anthology began when I sent out a call for papers, asking women to write about their work in animal advocacy. I had long been aware that women were the heart and soul of the animal advocacy movement, and I was determined to create an anthology that honored at least a few of these courageous women.I asked contributors to write about animal advocacy. I sought authors working in different types of activism, for different species, in a variety of capacities, in a handful of nations. I chose women from different ages, religions, socioeconomic groups, and continents. Each of these women sent an essay about animal activism and also discussed some other form of oppression that they were addressing alongside speciesism, whether sexism, racism, homophobia, or class stratification. Unexpectedly, I discovered that I had gathered a collection of essays demonstrating the many ways in which animal liberation is inextricably linked with other social justice causes.
With essays in hand, I found myself outside my field of expertise, which focuses on animal ethics. My doctoral dissertation centers on major thinkers in several key areas of animal ethics. During the years in which I worked on this dissertation, no faculty member suggested that I explore the feminist ethic of care, or ecofeminism—though these constitute key areas of animal ethics. No one suggested that I explore how Martin Luther King or Gandhi might have informed the animal rights movement. Maybe this is because all of my teachers were white men, and they all worked within the narrow confines of patriarchal, Western philosophy. Nonetheless, as I worked, I caught glimpses of ecofeminism and the feminist ethic of care through the eyes of male authors; their comments turned me away from exploring these alternative perspectives. Ultimately, my dissertation was published in a fat book on animal ethics that considered only white male thinkers, only white male perspectives, only white male ideas. My work was expansive, and yet it was painfully narrow. And no one working with me seemed to notice.
Only later, through activism, did I meet feminists working in the area of animal liberation, at which time I slowly began to explore this deep vein of comparatively new ideas. During this exploratory time period I picked up Karen Warren's book on ecofeminism, which caused me to drop the subject with disgust. Warren went out of her way to be inclusive of humanity, while being equally conscientious about excluding nonhuman animals. I turned to the writings of Carol Adams, thinking that her combination of feminism and animal liberation might be more palatable. My journey into interlocking oppressions began in earnest with her 2003 book, The Pornography of Meat, which stands at the juncture of feminism and animal advocacy, but which also explores racism and homophobia.
So there I was, manuscript in hand. How was I to write an introduction for a book on interlocking issues of social justice? I headed for the library, and this anthology has become part of my ongoing growth outward from that initial white, hetero, patriarchal perspective—a journey that has led me into richer understandings of animal advocacy specifically, and social justice more broadly.
Here is one of the key ideas that I am assimilating into my social justice advocacy: It is necessary for each of us to try to understand how privilege affects the ways we think about and engage in social justice. The way that we view the world is influenced by our lived experience—by sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, race, sex, and species, for instance (Mills and Salamon in Harper, "Phenomenology"). And this affects how we engage in advocacy. If I explore just one of these dimensions, race, I discover that "social contracts, economic systems, and citizenship, a person's consciousness and how one creates philosophies" are all "significantly shaped by one's lived experience of race" within a particular society (Mills, Yancy, and Sullivan in Harper, "Phenomenology"). For example, Barbara Flagg points to "the ability of Whites to control the cultural discourse of racial equality," including the rhetoric of colorblindness, and "Whites often employ strategies that reinstate Whiteness at the center. Here the metaprivilege of Whiteness resides in the 'absence of awareness of White privilege' ... Whiteness does not acknowledge either its own privilege or the material and sociocultural mechanisms by which that privilege is protected. White privilege itself becomes invisible" (Flagg 5–6). In an upcoming essay on this topic, A. Breeze Harper writes that to be white is to "know and move throughout" one's racist homeland as if it were not a racist nation (Harper, "Phenomenology"). She notes that Dwyer and Jones III describe whiteness as carrying a "socio-spatial epistemology" that assumes the position of authority, through which Caucasians come to believe that their epistemologies are not specific, but are general—applicable to all people (Harper, "Phenomenology"). All of this is equally true in a sexist society and a speciesist society. Those who are of comparatively powerless races, when put in a position of power-over, tend to be no less blind to their privilege.
Despite my belated efforts, I have no doubt that my white privilege continues to be largely opaque from my own point of view, just as most white men are oblivious to sexism and most racialized minorities are oblivious to speciesism. I would prefer that my privileged status as a white, middle-class, abled-but-aging female not slip under the radar. This requires education—mostly not from those in our privileged category—followed up with a will to change, complete with commitment and diligence.
I am one of those many white, middle-class, female vegans whose voices dominate Western animal activism. My whiteness—my blindness and ignorance—limits my effectiveness as an activist. Race matters. (Sex matters. Sexual orientation matters. Species matters.) Ignorance of what others face, where they are coming from and where they have been, limits my ability to dialogue with others in any meaningful way. Tara Sophia Bahna-James—who self-identifies as standing among the many racialized minorities in the United States—notes that, as she adopted the vegan lifestyle, her "female, Black-identified friends" provided "the most vocal skepticism" (162):
One friend made the connection that often veganism meant having the luxury of enough time and money to go out of one's way and engage in specific, harder-to-find consumer choices; a prerequisite that makes assumptions about class and privilege that are largely at odds with the more mainstream Black American experience. Another, more financially successful Black friend had been put off by hearing vegans make ethical arguments that analogized animal agriculture to slavery. Still another friend, whom I watched go from childhood in the projects to a law school degree by the sweat of her own brow, couldn't help but interpret what I said as though someone was asking her to sacrifice after all she'd been through. And though I'm committed to veganism, I don't necessarily disagree with their arguments. I still feel I can see where these friends are coming from, simply because I know where they've been. (Bahna-James 162)
I don't know where they've been, or even what life is like for racialized minorities in our racist communities. What are my chances of touching these individuals with my hopes for change when I have little understanding of their particular frustrations and hopes for change?
I must engage with the normative parts of my life because they are a major impediment to social justice activism. Privilege creates a consciousness that is reflected in social justice advocacy, about which we are generally unaware—as is evident if one explores the history of the feminist, environmental, and animal liberation movements. Those who hold power and set norms simply because they are male, or white, or heterosexual must be aware of their unjust power and accept different ways of being and thinking—introduced by others. People must find commonality with those of different religions, affectional orientations, races, and classes if hoped-for social changes are to be considered by those who do not share our religion, affectional orientation, race, or class.
Fortunately, there is a growing awareness that oppressions are linked. In Sistah Vegan, Michelle Loyd-Paige writes:
All social inequalities are linked. Comprehensive systemic change will happen only if we are aware of these connections and work to bring an end to all inequalities—not just our favorites or the ones that most directly affect our part of the universe. No one is on the sidelines; by our actions or inactions, by our caring or our indifference, we are either part of the problem or part of the solution. (Loyd-Paige 2)
Many social activists are now discovering that certain oppressions have been imprudently ignored and that many concerned and dedicated social activists are fighting just one form of oppression while unwittingly fueling the fires of other injustices. In a single-minded quest to reduce poverty, racism, or sexism, for example, many activists lose connection with the bigger picture—the links between poverty, racism, and sexism. This harms our ability to work with a diversity of other activists, and also harms the effectiveness of outreach. For example, in A. Breeze Harper's new anthology, Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health and Society, Harper writes of her experience as a black college student, encountering social justice activists who tried to "reach out" to Harper, but their seeming indifference to race and class (likely stemming from ignorance of race and class issues) blocked effective communication:
When I met those "crazy, tree-hugging" environmentalists and vegetarians (and the occasional vegan) for the first time, while attending Dartmouth College from 1994 to 1998, I couldn't believe they thought they had the right to tell me I shouldn't be eating Kentucky Fried chicken or taking thirty-minute showers or buying GAP clothing. Who the hell were they to tell me this? I naively thought with prejudice, They're just bored overprivileged rich white kids who do not have real problems. I realized nearly a decade later that they simply weren't trained or well read enough in antiracist and antipoverty praxis to deliver their message to me in a way that connected to my social justice work as a Black working-class female trying to deal with sexism, classism, and racism at Dartmouth. Though I would have appreciated a much more culturally sensitive delivery in their message—and cultural sensitivity is something I think the largely white, middle-class, eco-sustainable, and alternative-health movements in the U.S. need to work on—these kids' concerns were not only real, but substantial; it was their white, middle- and upper-class, privileged perception of health and eco-sustainability that made most of them unable to connect to working-class people and to Black and brown people like myself.
My experience with this is not singular.... [P]redominantly white, liberal, social-justice initiatives—from community food organizing and antiglobalization protests, to veganism, to dismantling the prison-industrial complex—are often entrenched in covert whiteness and white privilege that are collectively unacknowledged.... This has blunted the effectiveness of these movements' outreach and intent to people of color like myself, who perceive the tone and delivery of their message as elitist and colonizing. I believe this is one of the key reasons why so many people of color in the U.S. feel that ethical consumption is a "white thing" only and don't delve into how it will help our antiracism and antipoverty praxis.
Until I made the connections on my own, I too felt this way. (Harper, "Social" 35)
Sometimes (though perhaps rarely), when people are caught in this single-minded approach, they come to see links of oppression with only a slight nudge from others. More frequently, these links are difficult to decipher—even when others eagerly point the way. In fact, sometimes people have trouble shifting gears to see linked oppressions because others must point the way. When individuals are working hard to bring change, and someone tries to explain that they have fallen short of justice and equality, people often feel defensive, irritated, exhausted—broadsided by yet another weighty concern. Worse yet, one that they are contributing to.
The activist's path is not easy, but it is the only reasonable path for those who desire change. In the words of Melissa Santosa:
Sometimes I think, "Fuck this, if I could choose another life, I would." If it were in my logical power to deny the call to action from wherever it summons me, I would. For me, there is both choice and obligation.... Like professor after professor at the historically Black university I attended [said], "To whom much is given, much is expected." (Santosa 76)
While all things are relative, if you are able to access and read this book, you are almost surely among those to whom much has been given.
This anthology is about expanding understandings of social justice, about connecting dots—recognizing links of oppression. "Ultimately, we must deeply consider, do our addictions and other forms of consumption contradict our antiracist and antipoverty social justice beliefs?" (Harper "Social"). Does our diet contradict our antiracist, feminist agenda? This collection of essays stems from an understanding that social justice activism in the twenty-first century must address intersectional oppressions, and that these interlocking oppressions include—to name just a few—speciesism, sexism, racism, and homophobia. More specifically, this book
• Exposes critical connections between social justice movements, focusing on sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, and speciesism, remaining mindful that there are other forms of oppression that fit within this framework;
• Establishes speciesism as an important concern for all social justice activists, with a special focus on connecting speciesism with racism and sexism;
• Elucidates why all social justice advocates ought to adopt a vegan lifestyle;
• Encourages animal advocates to network with other social justice advocates to expose and dismantle all forms of oppression, and (at a minimum) avoid contributing to other forms of oppression because of ignorance, exhaustion, or indifference.
Toward this end, I have included four separate sections in this introduction. In the first section I provide a brief overview of the evolution of intersectional analysis in the field of social justice, beginning with feminism and pluralism in the sixties and seventies, moving through an explanation of patriarchy and linked oppressions in industrialized Western nations, exploring ecofeminism, and concluding with speciesism. In this section I endeavor to explain how aspects of feminism have been challenged and stretched across time in the hands of a diversity of human thinkers and writers, and how this process has prepared the way for understanding and incorporating interlocking oppressions through an increasingly diverse feminist movement. If you are familiar with the history of feminism, basic elements of patriarchy, and ecofeminism, you may prefer to skim the beginning of this section, focusing on the latter portion, which introduces speciesism.
Section II focuses on a handful of key ideas that run through this collection of essays: empathy, silence, trauma, and voice. After exploring these (and closely related) concepts, I employ two of these ideas, empathy and voice, in Section III (Making Change). In this section, true to the purpose of this anthology, I encourage readers to be informed, and to make choices that are consistent with a heightened understanding of linked oppressions. Social justice advocacy is not simply a career—it is a lifestyle. Martin Luther King noted that "injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined action" (M. King 407). Living up to our own beliefs is essential. This type of advocacy requires a great deal of vigilance, introspection, and a willingness to change. Reading Sister Species is of little use if the information therein is not applied in day-to-day life. To demonstrate the sort of integration of daily choices and ethics, the type of conflicts that can arise in this quagmire of interlocking oppressions, and the sort of introspection and flex that is required, we close Section III with an ongoing debate over food choices at feminist and ecofeminist conferences.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from sister species Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Kemmerer. Excerpted by permission of university of illinois press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
FOREWORD carol j. adams....................ixACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................xiii
INTRODUCTION lisa kemmerer....................1
1 FIGHTING COCKS: ECOFEMINISM VERSUS SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE pattrice jones....................45
2 FROM RURAL ROOTS TO ANGELS' WINGS twyla françois....................57
3 ARE YOU WAVING AT ME? ingrid e. newkirk....................65
4 CONNECTIONS: SPECIESISM, RACISM, AND WHITENESS AS THE NORM a. breeze harper....................72
5 FIGHTING "OTHER" miyun park....................79
6 SMALL SMALL REDEMPTION sangamithra iyer....................87
7 COMPASSION WITHOUT BORDERS hope ferdowsian....................97
8 THEOLOGY AND ANIMALS elizabeth jane farians....................102
9 FREEING FEATHERED SPIRITS linda fisher....................110
10 THE ART OF TRUTH-TELLING: THEATER AS COMPASSIONATE ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE tara sophia bahna-james....................117
11 FROM HUNTING GROUNDS TO CHICKEN RIGHTS: MY STORY IN AN EGGSHELL karen davis....................127
12 ISN'T JUSTICE SUPPOSED TO BE BLIND? PRACTICING ANIMAL LAW christine l. garcia....................141
13 AN APPETITE FOR JUSTICE lauren ornelas....................152
14 A MAGICAL TALISMAN allison lance....................161
APPENDIX: FACTORY FARMING AND FEMALES....................173
INDEX....................187