Anthrozoology As International Practice (AIP) Conference 2024
Lions, Orcas & Otters, Oh My! Radical Acts of Animal Resistance Fighters
Accepted Abstract
Whereas, in the academy, debates about animal agency intersect with notions of anthropocentrism and political ideologies of ecologism, there is scant evidence of comparable deliberation in the mainstream public dialogue. Although it might be argued that these kinds of theoretical debates are unimportant for actual praxis, several scholars have put considerable stake in the potential of social media to inform the struggle against the exploitation of nonhuman animals. My intention in this paper is twofold. First is to center our attention on the re-narrativization of animals cropping up in the ‘marketplace of ideas.’ Specifically, I wish to point out that, in the realm of digital communication, animals are being cast into the public moral imagination as heroes and resistance fighters. Second is to contend that this biographical reframing of animals engages with theoretical aspects of critical animal studies that seek to liberate animals from their place as metaphorical placeholders and move them into the gential, the real, the reactionary, provoking us to rethink our relationship with, and our response-ability to, our fellow nonhumans. I begin by placing my argument within the genealogy of academic thought that provides the conditions of possibility for this analysis. After a brief discussion of animal resistance, I present three mini case-studies (Otter 841, orcas, and Tsavo lions) as examples of how this biographical reframing is communicated through memes and headlines. I hope to suggest that these reflect a growing public acknowledgement of humanimal entanglement that, when taken together, form a coherent critique of the dominant world systems as unjust, oppressive, and ecologically unjustifiable.