This book would not have been written without the vision and support of Wendy Lochner at Columbia University Press, and my first thanks go to her for encouraging me to write it and for wanting to include me in her growing list of authors in animal studies.
I first came to understand the exciting possibilities and widening interdisciplinary parameters of the field of animal studies at the annual conferences for the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. Richard Nash was, I believe, the first to organize a stream of “animal panels” for these conferences, and I am indebted to him and to society members Ron Broglio, Susan Squier, and Susan McHugh for including me in panels and publications and for enlivening the conversation around the representations of nonhuman animals. I also thank Teresa Mangum, Jane Desmond, and Nigel Rothfels for inviting me to participate in the 2007 “Animal Agenda” and for the fascinating discussions we had regarding efforts to integrate academic research in animal studies with public engagement. I am grateful to my previous institution, the California College of the Arts, and to Wesleyan University for allowing me to teach courses in what was not yet known as “animal studies” and to my students in the courses “Thinking Animals” and “Animal Subjects” at both institutions for the seriousness and excitement of their efforts in and outside of class. I also thank the Humane Society of the United States for choosing my California College of the Arts course “Animal Subjects” to receive the Best Established Course Award for 2006: its recognition was meaningful for me personally and for the field of animal studies more generally.
At Wesleyan University, I have been privileged to have Lori Gruen as a colleague and collaborator on a variety of animal projects, beginning with “Who’s Looking?”—a collaborative investigation of human relations to chimpanzees that included Frank Noelker’s exhibited exhibition Chimp Portraits. Lori’s expertise in ethics has been as instructive for me as our work and dinners together have been inspirational. I am also grateful to my department, the College of Letters, for freeing me to participate as a fellow at Wesleyan’s Center for the Humanities in the fall semester of 2008 and to the center’s director, Jill Morawski, and the other fellows for our lively and provocative discussions. Andrew Curran offered a particularly helpful and responsive ear during the semester, and I thank him for his continuing interest in and engagement with my work. I also thank him for introducing me to Thierry Houquet, who invited me to submit an essay for his special issue of the French journal Critique on animal liberation. That essay would become part of this book’s penultimate chapter, and I also presented it at the Animals and Society Institute, where I was a peer scholar during the summer of 2009. I am grateful to the institute’s directors, Ken Shapiro and Margo de Mello, for inviting me; to Kathy Rudy, who hosted the institute that summer; and to the other fellows and participants for their enthusiastic response to my work.
My final thanks go to Michael and Sophie, to whom this book is dedicated. From courting me on horseback and allowing our dogs on the bed to taking it in stride as my habits of eating and cooking changed over the course of writing this book, Michael has indulged me in my creaturely cravings and in many instances has even come to share them. As for Sophie, having grown up with a flurry of tails and tales, she has taught me much about the differences and similarities among the various members of our family and reminds me how important it is to love each one attentively and with endless appreciation for the love they return.
Some of the material here was previously published in journals, which have graciously offered permission to reproduce my work.
Chapter 1 originally appeared as “A Report on the Animal Turn,” differences 21, no. 2 (Summer 2010): 1–23.
Part of chapter 7 appeared in a slightly different version as “Killing Them Softly: Animal Death, Linguistic Disability, and the Struggle for Ethics,” Configurations 14, nos. 1–2 (2006): 87–96.
An earlier version of chapter 8 first appeared in French as “Liberté ehonté,” “Libérer les animaux?” a special issue of Critique 747–748 (August–September 2009): 664–677. A later version appeared as “Shameless Freedom,” JAC 30, nos. 3–4 (2010): 713–726.