an other: a black feminist consideration of animal life

Sharon Patricia Holland's book explores Black feminist thought by focusing on the relationship between humans and animals, highlighting ethical commitments and interrogating blackness, insurgence, flesh, and femaleness. She examines MOVE's incarnation as an animal liberation group, sovereignty in Morrison's A Mercy, Charles Burnett's films, and equestrian novels as commentaries on the place of animals in Black life. Holland demonstrates that Black life is relational and world-forming with animal lives.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 04 August 2023
Publisher: Duke University Press

Sharon Patricia Holland presents a novel perspective on the human-animal divide, shifting the focus from distinction to relation, recognizing that humans are indeed animals. Holland prioritizes ethical commitments over ontological concerns, highlighting instances where Black people engage in ethical relationships with animals. Drawing from a diverse range of writers and thinkers, including Hortense Spillers, Sara Ahmed, Toni Morrison, C. E. Morgan, Jane Bennett, Jacques Derrida, and Donna Haraway, Holland decenters the human in Black feminist thought to explore blackness, insurgence, flesh, and femaleness. She examines MOVE's incarnation as an animal liberation group, utilizes sovereignty in Morrison's novel "A Mercy" to understand blackness, indigeneity, and the animal, analyzes Charles Burnett's films as commentaries on the place of animals in Black life, and demonstrates how equestrian novels address Black and animal life in ways that rehearse the practices of the slavocracy. By emphasizing action rather than being, Holland showcases that Black life is not merely comparable to animal life but is relational and world-forming, interconnected with the lives of animals.

Weight: 510g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478025078