When Animals Speak: Toward an Interspecies Democracy

Description:

Winner, 2020 ASCA Book Award, given by the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis

A groundbreaking argument for the political rights of animals

In When Animals Speak, Eva Meijer develops a new, ground-breaking theory of language and politics, arguing that non-human animals speak--and, most importantly, act--politically. From geese and squid to worms and dogs, she highlights the importance of listening to animal voices, introducing ways to help us bridge the divide between the human and non-human world.

Drawing on insights from science, philosophy, and politics, Meijer provides fascinating, real-world examples of animal communities who use their voices to speak, and act, in political ways. When Animals Speak encourages us to rethink our relations with other animals, showing that their voices should be taken into account as the starting point for a new interspecies democracy.

Brief description: Eva Meijer is a postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and the author of many books, including Animal Languages.

Review Quotes: "Our entanglements with other animals shape our politics, our ethics, and our very concepts. These relationships often dangerously impact the wellbeing of other animals. In this comprehensive and passionate exploration, Eva Meijer argues that other animals are agents in these relationships, with their own perspectives and experiences, their own sensibilities and capacities to resist misrepresentation. The task for us is to learn to listen to what they are telling us, and once we do we can work to enrich all of our lives."--Lori Gruen, author of Entangled Empathy: An Alternative Ethic for Our Relationships with Animals