Table Of Content“KAri Weil plumbs our thick entanglements with nonhuman animals as companions, as W
abjected others, as subjects of grief and mourning—those dense contact zones in which e
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art and literature may well ‘think’ nonhuman animals better, or at least more patiently, than
theory and philosophy. Anyone interested in love, life, and death across species will want to
read this book.”
—Cary Wolfe, author of Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and the Post-
humanist Theory
Thinking Animals
Kari Weil provides a critical introduction to the field of animal studies as well as an Th
appreciation of its thrilling acts of destabilization. examining real and imagined confronta-
tions between human and nonhuman animals, she charts the presumed lines of difference i
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between human beings and other species and the personal, ethical, and political implica- W h y
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tions of those boundaries.
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Weil’s considerations recast the work of such authors as Kafka, Mann, Woolf, and Coe- n
tzee, and such philosophers as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, Deleuze, agamben, Cixous, g A n i m A l
and Hearne, while incorporating the aesthetic perspectives of such visual artists as Bill A
Viola, Frank Noelker, and Sam Taylor-Wood and the “visual thinking” of the autistic animal
n S t u d i e S
scientist Temple Grandin. She addresses theories of pet keeping and domestication; the
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importance of animal agency; the intersection of animal studies, disability studies, and eth- m
ics; and the role of gender, shame, love, and grief in shaping our attitudes toward animals. a n oW ?
exposing humanism’s conception of the human as a biased illusion, and embracing post- l
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humanism’s acceptance of human and animal entanglement, Weil unseats the comfortable
assumptions of humanist thought and its species-specific distinctions.
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“Weil mApS the theoretical history of animal studies while setting a course for future stud- h
ies. She makes challenging theoretical arguments accessible and inviting. the framework of y Kari Weil
A
ethics also offers a framework for abstract discussion that should include even those without n
deep theoretical knowledge into the conversation.” im
—teresa mangum, director, obermann Center for Advanced Studies at the university of iowa A
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“A deeply felt and keenly thought engagement with key philosophical questions that will t
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stimulate seasoned scholars and beginning students alike. highly recommended.” d
—Jane desmond, author of Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World ie
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“A lively And Compelling introduction to essential debates shaping posthumanistic o
animal theory today. Whether through ordinary expressions of grief at the death of pets or W
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by extreme fantasies of animal liberation through extinction, Weil argues, the problems of
animal representation are proving increasingly difficult to separate from those of representing
people. With original readings and nuanced translations, Thinking Animals emphasizes french
poststructuralist and material feminist theory as pivotal to this so-called animal turn in the
twenty-first century.”
—Susan mchugh, author of Animal Stories and Dog
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Kari Weil is University Professor of letters at Wesleyan University. o
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Cover image: Photo by Brad Wilson. © Getty images b
Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok lee ia
ColumBiA univerSity preSS / neW yorK
cup.columbia.edu
printed in the u.S.A.
THINKING ANIMALS
Thinking Animals
WHY
ANIMAL
STUDIES
NOW?
Kari Weil
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2012 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weil, Kari.
Thinking animals : why animal studies now? / Kari Weil.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-14808-5 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-231-14809-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-9-231-51984-7 (ebook)
1. Animals (Philosophy) 2. Animals in literature.
I. Title.
B105.A55W45 2012
113'.8—dc23 2011035566
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable
acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
For
Michael,
Sophie,
and the animals
we’ve loved
One thing is necessary above all if one is to practice reading as
an art. Something for which one has almost to be a cow and in
any case not a modern man: rumination.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals,
trans. Walter Kaufmann
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xv
PART I
Why Animal Studies Now?
1
A Report on the Animal Turn 3
2
Seeing Animals 25
PART II
Pet Tales
3
Is a Pet an Animal? Domestication and Animal Agency 53
4
Gendered Subjects/Abject Objects: Man(n)’s Best Friend 63
Description:Kari Weil provides a critical introduction to the field of animal studies as well as an appreciation of its thrilling acts of destabilization. Examining real and imagined confrontations between human and nonhuman animals, she charts the presumed lines of difference between human beings and other spe
