The Human Animal Earthling Identity

With The Human Animal Earthling Identity Carrie P. Freeman asks us to reconsider the devastating division we have created between the human and animal conditions, leading to mass exploitation, injustice, and extinction. As a remedy, Freeman believes social movements should collectively foster a cultural shift in human identity away from an egoistic anthropocentrism (human-centered outlook) and toward a universal altruism (species-centered ethic), so people may begin to see themselves more broadly as “human animal earthlings.” To formulate the basis for this identity shift, Freeman examines overlapping values (supporting life, fairness, responsibility, and unity) that are common in global rights declarations and in the current campaign messages of sixteen global social movement organizations that work on human/civil rights, nonhuman animal protection, and/or environmental issues, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, CARE, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the World Wildlife Fund, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Nature Conservancy, the Rainforest Action Network, and Greenpeace. She also interviews the leaders of these advocacy groups to gain their insights on how human and nonhuman protection causes can become allies by engaging common opponents and activating shared values and goals on issues such as the climate crisis, enslavement, extinction, pollution, inequality, destructive farming and fishing, and threats to democracy. Freeman’s analysis of activist discourse considers ethical ideologies on behalf of social justice, animal rights, and environmentalism, using animal rights’ respect for sentient individuals as a bridge connecting human rights to a more holistic valuing of species and ecological systems. Ultimately, Freeman uses her findings to recommend a set of universal values around which all social movements’ campaign messages can collectively cultivate respectful relations between “human animal earthlings,” fellow sentient beings, and the natural world we share.

Olson presents a defence of a radically non-psychological account of personal identity. Continuity of mental contents or capacities is neither necessary nor sufficient for us to persist through time. Our identity consists in biological processes.

Gender and Sexuality in Critical Animal Studies explores nonhuman animals’ experiences of gender, physiological sex, and sexuality while in nature and captivity. The contributors analyze nonhuman oppression issues such as reproductive freedom, deconstructing dichotomous thinking, and promoting animal liberation within and beyond the academy. The scholar-activists featured in this collection investigate injustice in news stories, literature, and other media that shape human perceptions and treatment toward nonhumans. Each chapter confronts problematic social constructions of gender, physiological sex, or sexuality by applying literary theory, cultural studies, disability studies, queer studies, ecocriticism, and more to promote justice and equity for nonhuman animals.

The Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity brings the ecological turn to sociocultural understandings of self. The editors introduce a broad, insightful assembly of original theory and research on planetary positionalities in flux in the Anthropocene – or what in this Handbook cultural ecologist David Abram presciently renames the Humilocene, a new “epoch of humility.” Forty international authors craft a kaleidoscopic lens, focusing on the following key interdisciplinary inquiries: Part I illuminates identity as always ecocultural, expanding dominant understandings of who we are and how our ways of identifying engender earthly outcomes. Part II examines ways ecocultural identities are fostered and how difference and spaces of interaction can be sources of environmental conviviality. Part III illustrates consequential ways the media sphere informs, challenges, and amplifies particular ecocultural identities. Part IV delves into the constitutive power of ecocultural identities and illuminates ways ecological forces shape the political sphere. Part V demonstrates multiple and unspooling ways in which ecocultural identities can evolve and transform to recall ways forward to reciprocal surviving and thriving. The Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity provides an essential resource for scholars, teachers, students, protectors, and practitioners interested in ecological and sociocultural regeneration. The Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity has been awarded the 2020 Book Award from the National Communication Association's (USA) Environmental Communication Division.

For over forty years, Theories of Human Communication has facilitated the understanding of the theories that define the discipline of communication. The authors present a comprehensive summary of major communication theories, current research, extensions, and applications in a thoughtfully organized and engaging style. Part I of the extensively updated twelfth edition sets the stage for how to think about and study communication. The first chapter establishes the foundations of communication theory. The next chapter reviews four frameworks for organizing the theories and their contributions to the nature of inquiry. Part II covers theories centered around the communicator, message, medium, and communication with the nonhuman. Part III addresses theories related to communication contexts—relationship, group, organization, health, culture, and society. “From the Source” contributions from theorists provide insight into the inspirations, motivations, and goals behind the theories. Online instructor’s resource materials include sample syllabi, key terms, exam questions, and text graphics. The theories include those important for their continuing influence in the field as well as emerging theories that encourage thinking about issues in new ways. For a reasonable price, readers are able to explore the patterns, trends, trajectories, and intricacies of the landscape of communication theory and will have an invaluable resource for future reference.

Regan provides the theoretical framework that grounds a responsible pro-animal rights perspective, and ultimately explores how asking moral questions about other animals can lead to a better understanding of ourselves.

Animal Activism On and Off Screen examines the relationship between animal advocacy and the film and television industries. Leading scholars, activists, and film industry professionals critically analyse the ways in which animal activism has been represented inside and outside film and television programs in relation to the politics of celebrity, vegan, and animal activism. Case studies include UK, US, and German television crime fiction, feature-length advocacy documentaries such as Blackfish (2013), The Ghosts in Our Machine (2013), The Animal People (2019) and Meat the Future (2020); fiction films such as Okja (2017) and Cloud Atlas (2012); as well as celebrity chefs, French activism and celebrity activists Pamela Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix and James Cromwell. By exploring three key aspects of the current context for animal rights: representations of activism on screen; activist texts and their reception; and celebrity vegans and animal advocates, Animal Activism On and Off Screen evaluates the efficacy of advocacy narratives in film and on television, and offers important insights intended to inform animal advocacy strategies and campaigns.

This book presents the case for legal protection for animals based on humanity’s shared interests and destinies with the animal kingdom. To underscore the urgent need for legal reform, the book documents how animals are in crisis, with separate discussions on animals in entertainment, research, fashion, the food industry, and animals in our homes, as well as issues that impact wildlife and aquatic animals. In each of the foregoing areas, there is a discussion of major developments for animals across the globe, the objective being to demonstrate how the U.S. is out of step with other major countries in its legal treatment of animals. The importance of media as a driver of change is also considered. This background culminates to the heart of the book, which discusses and analyzes the link between human rights and animal rights, with nine areas explored (e.g., loss of biodiversity; environmental destruction; zoonotic diseases; world hunger; violence). Challenges to legal reforms are also explored, including issues associated with weak laws, the failure to enforce existing laws, and governmental agencies that tend to overlook the actions of industries. Finally, the book explores the development of animal law and the trajectory of current laws, with analysis of developing ‘rights of nature’ laws and ‘legal personhood’ status for animals.

“A book that offers hope.” —The New York Times Book Review “A wondrous tapestry.” —Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel Audubon Medal winner Richard Louv’s landmark book Last Child in the Woods inspired an international movement to connect children and nature. Now he redefines the future of human-animal coexistence. In Our Wild Calling, Louv interviews researchers, theologians, wildlife experts, indigenous healers, psychologists, and others to show how people are connecting with animals in ancient and new ways, and how this serves as an antidote to the growing epidemic of human loneliness; how dogs can teach children ethical behavior; how animal-assisted therapy may yet transform the mental health field; and what role the human-animal relationship plays in our spiritual health. He reports on wildlife relocation and on how the growing populations of wild species in urban areas are blurring the lines between domestic and wild animals. Our Wild Calling makes the case for protecting, promoting, and creating a sustainable and shared habitat for all creatures—not out of fear, but out of love. Includes a new interview with the author, discussion questions, and a resource guide.