Sub-Human?: The psychology of anthropocentric exceptionalism
The words we use to refer to humans and other animals deeply matter, and it’s clear that other animals are nonhumans, not subhumans. Humancentric hierarchies are totally misleading, and thinking about 'higher' animals and 'lower' animals makes no sense. Simply put, anthropocentric speciesism doesn’t work, and other animals aren’t less than humans. This is not a radical view; it is solid evolutionary biology.
MARC BEKOFF: Emma Håkansson’s new book ‘Sub-Human: A 21st-Century Ethic; On Animals, Collective Liberation, and Us’… Humans are mammals, and when we think everything revolves around us — that we’re exceptional and separate from and above all other animals — this is bad biology and results in unwarranted speciesism and oppression. We are exceptional in various ways, and so, too, are other animals…
The words we use to refer to humans and other animals deeply matter, and it’s clear that other animals are nonhumans, not subhumans. Humancentric hierarchies are totally misleading, and thinking about “higher” animals and “lower” animals makes no sense. This is not a radical view; it is solid evolutionary biology.
Simply put, anthropocentric speciesism doesn’t work, and other animals aren’t less than humans… As Emma reminds us, “When we accept oppression of some, we feed the oppression of others, and we make space for domination driven by false ideas of inferiority and lesser worth. When we discount the inherent preciousness of animals who think and feel, we erase precious parts of ourselves’…
Emma answers a few questions about Sub-Human in which she delves into what it means to be an animal, how our view of other animals impacts our view of other people, oppressions, and the planet, how we got here, as well as how we can move forward together…
MB: Why did you write Sub-Human?
EH: I wrote Sub-Human to invite those engaged in different social justice issues to consider how speciesism is a form of discrimination and oppression interlinked with others. If we were all better aware of the history of animal exploitation and efforts to move past it, we would also see how oppressions based on species, gender, race, and other arbitrary markers have perpetuated each other and, at their core, are the same. With this understanding, we can better work towards collective liberation—and Sub-Human traces this interwoven history and the potential path forward for justice…
MB: What are some of the major topics you consider?
EH: In the book, I explore how we came to justify mass animal exploitation, slaughter, and oppression — from Descartes’ claim that other animals were mere flesh automatons to the denial of animal sentience by much more recent figures. I examine how this has led to industrialized and normalized violence against billions of individuals and how we might work to undo this immense harm by considering animal rights differently. So often, animal rights are viewed as distinct and outside of regular discussions of social justice, and I want that to change…
MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about the mindset and ubiquity of oppression, they will pay more attention to how they interact with humans and other animals?
EH: Definitely. So much of our oppression of our fellow animals is not conscious but inherited as we grow, learn, and develop within a deeply speciesist society. In the book, I share the story of how I first considered how language objectifies and oppresses animals when I referred to a chicken, even as I already considered myself as an animal rights advocate, as an “it,” as an object. We so intensely internalize the commodification of other sentient beings, even if I think our human nature is to coexist with them. I hope the book might help people unpack and relearn some of what they have learned. SOURCE…
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