The War against Animals

About this book

Are non-human animals our friends or enemies? In this provocative book, Dinesh Wadiwel argues that our mainstay relationships with billions of animals are essentially hostile. The War against Animals asks us to interrogate this sustained violence across its intersubjective, institutional and epistemic dimensions.

Drawing from Foucault, Spivak and Derrida, The War against Animals argues that our sovereign claim of superiority over other animals is founded on nothing else but violence. Through innovative readings of Locke and Marx, Dinesh Wadiwel argues that property in animals represents a bio-political conquest that aims to secure animals as the "spoils of war." The goal for pro-animal advocacy must be to challenge this violent sovereignty and recognize animal resistance through forms of counter-conduct and truce.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword: Matthew Calarco    
Introduction: The Live Hang

Part One: Biopolitics
Chapter 1: Bare Life
Chapter 2: Governmentality

Part Two: Conquest
Chapter 3: Immunity
Chapter 4: Property and Commodity

Part Three: Private Dominion
Chapter 5: Privatisation and Containment
Chapter 6: Companionship

Part Four: Sovereignty
Chapter 7: Capability
Chapter 8: The Violence of Stupidity

Conclusion: Truce
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel, Ph.D. (2005), University of Western Sydney, is a Lecturer in Human Rights and Socio-Legal Studies at The University of Sydney. His research interests include sovereignty and the nature of rights, violence, race and critical animal studies.