Overview

Animal Studies is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field devoted to examining, understanding, and critically evaluating the complex relationships between humans and other animals. Scholarship in Animal Studies draws on a variety of methodologies to explore these multi-faceted relationships in order to help us understand the ways in which other animals figure in our lives and we in theirs.  Bringing together the work of a group of internationally distinguished scholars, the contribution in Critical Terms for Animal Studies offers distinct voices and diverse perspectives, exploring significant concepts and asking important questions. How do we take non-human animals seriously, not simply as metaphors for human endeavors, but as subjects themselves? What do we mean by anthropocentrism, captivity, empathy, sanctuary, and vulnerability, and what work do these and other critical terms do in Animal Studies? Sure to become an indispensable reference for the field, Critical Terms for Animal Studies not only provides a framework for thinking about animals as subjects of their own experiences, but also serves as a touchstone to help us think differently about our conceptions of what it means to be human, and the impact human activities have on the more than human world.

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9780226355399

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Reviews

Lori Gruen has created an intellectual cafe in which leading scholars offer their insight and wisdom, in incisive and stimulating entries, on topics central to animal studies, all the while incorporating intersections with feminist, postcolonial, disability, environmental, and anti-racist scholarship. Richly textured, inviting and empowering, this is a dream book for students, academics, and activists alike. --Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat and Burger Lori Gruen, who is herself at the forefront of animal studies, has rounded up the leading scholars in the field, and together they have produced a text that will define the field for the next generation. --Dale Jamieson, New York University This book's standout feature is its analysis of animal studies terms across a wide array of disciplines and theoretical perspectives, ranging from anthropology and activism to biology and law. Although animal studies has been interdisciplinary from its beginnings, this volume considerably expands and deepens that interdisciplinary vision. Lori Gruen is a highly-recognized and well-respected scholar in the field and has brought together a superb mix of authors who represent the very best of the established discourse and the most exciting members of the new generation. --Matthew Calarco, California State University, Fullerton This volume provides an overview of the some of the most central--and some of the most contested--concepts in the rapidly emerging inter-disciplinary area of animal studies. Unlike handbooks and readers, Critical Terms for Animal Studies is not focused on a selection of definitive texts but rather on setting the terms of the language used in the field. The subject of animal studies is at a crucial stage, still being mapped out and defining itself, and this volume is very useful, given its conciseness, its all-star cast of contributors, and its breadth in providing a guide to some of the key ideas. Taken along with the editor's introduction, which nicely situates the history of animal studies and lays out some vital strands and debates, I think many animal studies scholars will see this book as an anchor text. --Colin Jerolmack, New York University

Author Information

Lori Gruen is William Griffin Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University. She is the author of Ethics and Animals and Entangled Empathy and the editor of five other books.

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