Animals as Legal Beings: Contesting Anthropocentric Legal Orders

Maneesha Deckha

Published by University of Toronto Press 2020

Animals as Legal Beings

Contesting Anthropocentric Legal Orders

Maneesha Deckha

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487538248

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the ongoing quest to protect animals from exploitation, this book discusses "beingness," as an alternative to "personhood," as the more impactful and animal-centered legal status that recognizes and values animals for who they are.

Author / Editor information

DeckhaManeesha:

Maneesha Deckha is a professor and Lansdowne Chair in Law at the University of Victoria.

Reviews

Dale Jamieson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, and Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, New York University:

"Animals as property or animals as persons? This dichotomy has consumed scholars debating the legal status of animals. Esteemed feminist and post-colonial scholar, Maneesha Deckha breaks through this dichotomy with her argument that animals should occupy the novel legal category of ‘beingness.’ Her conclusions land in surprising places and must be confronted by anyone seriously concerned with the legal status of animals."

Irus Braverman, Professor and William J. Magavern Faculty Scholar, The State University of New York at Buffalo:

"Finally! – a comprehensive analysis of animal law that does not rest upon anthropocentric liberal assumptions, but instead advocates for ‘beingness’ as a new legal subjectivity for animals. A must-read for anyone who cares about more-than-humans."

Margot Young, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia:
“Animals as Legal Beings is an impressive new contribution to research and theory. Its breadth is astonishing; Maneesha Deckha is well versed across traditions and theorists. The book’s engagement with complex theory is detailed and sensitive to nuance. It is an important contribution to critical thinking about law.”

Dinesh Wadiwel, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney:
“Maneesha Deckha has emerged as a leading voice in law scholarship which crosses animal, feminist, and postcolonial studies. This book offers a new contribution to thinking about animals as legal subjects beyond the current impasse between personhood and property. Deckha’s innovative approach proposes a new third status- ‘beingness’- representing an original attempt to solve a practical dilemma.”

Anna Grear, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University:
“Animals as Legal Beings is an excellent piece of scholarship, well written and highly readable. Maneesha Deckha offers a clear theorization of animal legal subjectivity using ‘beingness’ as her core theoretical value and notes the limitations or unanswered puzzles related to her theorization.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I – Beyond Property and Personhood: Contesting Legal Objectification and Humanization
1 No Escape: Anti-cruelty Laws’ Property Foundations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
2 What’s Wrong with Personhood? The Humanizing Impact of Anthropos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
3 Toward a Post-Anthropocentric Legal Ontology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Part II – Animals as Beings: In Pursuit of a New Post-Anthropocentric Legal Order
4 Beingness: A New Legal Subjectivity for Animals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
5 Liberal Humanism Repackaged? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 348
Keywords: law; animals; anthropocentrism; personhood; property; gender; race; embodiment; relationality; vulnerability

eBook

Published: December 16, 2020
ISBN: 9781487538248