Publisher’s
write-up:
‘How much of what
we understand of ourselves as “human” depends on our physical and mental
abilities—how we move (or cannot move) in and interact with the world? And how
much of our definition of “human” depends on its difference from “animal”?
Drawing on her own
experiences as a disabled person, a disability activist, and an animal
advocate, author Sunaura Taylor persuades us to think deeply, and sometimes
uncomfortably, about what divides the human from the animal, the disabled from
the nondisabled—and what it might mean to break down those divisions, to claim
the animal and the vulnerable in ourselves, in a process she calls “cripping
animal ethics.”
Beasts of Burden
suggests that issues of disability and animal justice—which have heretofore
primarily been presented in opposition—are in fact deeply entangled. Fusing
philosophy, memoir, science, and the radical truths these disciplines can
bring—whether about factory farming, disability oppression, or our assumptions
of human superiority over animals—Taylor draws attention to new worlds of
experience and empathy that can open up important avenues of solidarity across
species and ability. Beasts of Burden is a wonderfully engaging and elegantly
written work, both philosophical and personal, by a brilliant new voice.’
Note: I read the French translation of the book. Cliquez ici afin de lire en français
Beast of Burden is a
book written by the American writer and activist Sunaura Taylor, on the subject
of ableism, where our society privileges the ones who are ‘able’ and there is
the inherent feeling that those who are differently abled have less to add to
the society. The author herself, suffers from a specific degenerative disease
and is disabled.
In this battle for the
rights for the handicapped, she finds the intersectionality with animal rights.
She explains how the fight for the two are the same, as how animals too, are
viewed by the society as ‘less intelligent’ than the able humans, and thus,
have no guilt over mistreating or exploiting them.
It is a well-researched
book, with several citations to justify all the arguments that she makes. Given
that she is a vegan and also has a disability, there is a personal connection
that she has with the subject that she has taken up, which I could feel in her
writing. I also found the idea of the two issues being intersectional to be
interesting, something that I had never thought of.
Considering that I am
a vegan myself, like the author, I have wondered about some of the questions
myself, about the conditions of employees in an abattoir – often from some of
the most poor and vulnerable conditions in the society. She brings up how there
is a vicious cycle, given these abattoirs have several accidents not because of
animal behaviour but because of the speed at which the employees have to work, which
often does render them handicapped.
Even though this was
an interesting premise, and I had not thought about it this way either till I
read this book, I am still unsure as to how widely this idea has been thought
about and spread across either. This is because I do not see movements either
for animal rights or for rights of the disabled seeing this intersectionality
on a large scale to this date. Certain parts of the book were difficult to
read, given she describes in detail, the suffering that the animals in farms go
through and in my opinion, shocking people is not the best method to invoke a
change in behaviour. Thus, I am not sure to who the target audience to this book
was – I certainly enjoyed it but reaching me is like preaching to the choir.
To conclude, I would
say that it was an interesting read, sometimes shocking and I award it a rating
of seven on ten.
Rating – 7/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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