Race and Species: Beyond Hierarchies, Towards New Alliances

This seminar explores the historical and contemporary co-constitution of race and species. While these categories have existed and intersected since ancient times, we will concentrate on how differences were flattened into the hierarchies of life in European empires, racializing non-humans and animalizing colonized peoples. Beyond these historical prejudices, we will investigate the complex and often surprising intersections between these categories, in alliances, shared scholarly approaches, and evolving theories of agency. Through case studies and critical inquiry, we will challenge exclusionary concepts of the human. By engaging these frameworks to improve conceptions of social and environmental justice, this seminar offers a lens for understanding our interconnected world. In addition to reading assigned published works, participants will gain experience in a collaboration with an international set of authors and editors producing a planned volume on race and species.