DAISY// Critical animal theory

 

Journal for Critical Animal Studies

The Journal for Critical Animal Studies (JCAS) was designed to develop activist consciousness of animal liberation history, practice, theory, and politics, while also encouraging Critical Animal Studies (CAS) scholarship, one of the most progressive and dynamic modes of theory in the academy today. To this end, JCAS, a free online journal, accepts manuscripts and other materials that promote the fundamental notions of CAS (for an overview of the 10 Principles of CAS, see JCAS 5.1 Best, et al.). We are also interested in research using an intersectional analysis of social justice issues related to other marginalized and oppressed groups regarding race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, disability, geography, age, spirituality (both religious and secular), and environmental issues. JCAS supports and strives to publish work that promotes (1) intersectionality, (2) social justice activism, (3) total liberation, (4) anarchism, (5) illegal direct action, and (6) jargon-free. To ensure the highest standards of scholarly integrity, our submissions are anonymously peer-reviewed by experts in the field of CAS. link to last number

The Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS)

The Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS), rooted in animal liberation and anarchism, is an international intersectional transformative holistic theory-to-action activist led based scholarly think-tank to unapologetically examine, explain, be in solidarity with, and be part of radical and revolutionary actions, theories, groups and movements for total liberation and to dismantle all systems of domination and oppression, in hopes for a just, equitable, inclusive, and peaceful world.

APHRO-ISM by Ko

In this lively, accessible, and provocative collection, Aph and Syl Ko provide new theoretical frameworks on race, advocacy for nonhuman animals, and feminism. Using popular culture as a point of reference for their critiques, the Ko sisters engage in groundbreaking analysis of the compartmentalized nature of contemporary social movements, present new ways of understanding interconnected oppressions, and offer conceptual ways of moving forward expressive of Afrofuturism and black veganism.

Racism as Zoological Witchcraft

In this scintillating combination of critical race theory, social commentary, veganism, and gender analysis, media studies scholar Aph Ko offers a compelling vision of a reimagined social justice movement marked by a deconstruction of the conceptual framework that keeps activists silo-ed fighting their various oppressions―and one another. Through a subtle and extended examination of Jordan Peele’s hit 2017 movie Get Out, Ko shows the many ways that white supremacist notions of animality and race exist through the consumption and exploitation of flesh. She demonstrates how a critical historical and social understanding of anti-Blackness can provide the pathway to genuine liberation. Highly readable, richly illustrated, and full of startling insights, Racism as Zoological Witchcraft is a brilliant example of the emerging discipline of Black veganism by one of its leading voices.

The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman, by Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert

The Falling Sky is a remarkable first-person account of the life story and cosmo-ecological thought of Davi Kopenawa, shaman and spokesman for the Yanomami of the Brazilian Amazon. In a close collaboration with anthropologist Bruce Albert, a friend since the 1970s, Davi Kopenawa paints an unforgettable picture of Yanomami culture, past and present, in the heart of the rainforest.

Kopenawa recounts his initiation and experience as a shaman, as well as his first encounters with outsiders: government officials, missionaries, road workers, cattle ranchers, and gold prospectors. He vividly describes the ensuing cultural repression, environmental devastation, and deaths resulting from epidemics and violence. In his role as a global ambassador for his endangered people, he provides a biting critique of Western industrial society, whose material greed, mass violence, and ecological blindness contrast sharply with Yanomami cultural values. At the same time a coming-of-age story, a historical account, and a shamanic philosophy, The Falling Sky is most of all an impassioned plea to respect native rights and preserve the Amazon rainforest.

“When they think their land is getting spoiled, the white people speak of “pollution.” In our language, when sickness spreads relentlessly through the forest, we say that xawara [epidemic fumes] have seized it and that it becomes ghost.”—Davi Kopenawa