Towards a vegan eco-feminist critical care theory : a search for a compassionate, responsible, respectful, posthumanist paradigm

Abstract

Anti-speciesist theory is not often taught within the humanities nor has it been present in the Women and Gender Studies programs I have attended. To do research concerning the realities other-than-human beings face an alternative theoretical framework is necessary. This thesis explored multiple theoretical perspectives, from a deconstructive (eco) feminist stance, that attempt to bridge the human/animal divide. The six unsanctioned discourses explored were: 1) Animal Rights theory, 2) Feminist Care/Defense theory, 3) Ecofeminism, 4) Radical Anti-Speciesist theory, 5) Liberationist theory, and 6) Posthumanism. From these theoretical strands, and through an affirmative discourse analysis, an alternative hybrid theory, composed of terminology, concepts and ideas selected from the unsanctioned, was pieced together. From this hybrid theory it will be possible to do future research concerning the lives of animal beings under human despotism. This bricolage offers an alternative and intersectional lens from which to know, see and be in the world.