Religion, Politics, and the Emergence of Animal Studies

While much of contemporary Animal Studies is focused on science-based and law-based work centering on companion animals, many people approach animal-related topics through the human spirit. Religious traditions, the creative arts, and “common sense” experience must inform a robust approach to living beings beyond the species line. Such interdisciplinary and whole-human approaches are not presently favored in either science, legal, or policy/economics-based circles, where each kind of “expert” remains ghetto-ized in a disciplinary framework that is too restricted. Our relations to other animals must be informed by the ethics-sensitive and connection-affirming sensibilities of religious, creative, and affective knowledges.