The dissertation connects areas of critical-animal studies and feminist studies over the question of picturing bodies of animals and women including visual violence. In particular it addresses the use of mentioned picturing methods by an animal rights movement. I understand women and animals to be marginalised groups in patriarchal society on which is represented the power of hegemonic masculinity by denigrating, violent and sexual representation, even though each group has its specifics. The method of representation serves as means of confirmation and embedding of hegemonic masculinity, anthropocentric system built on binary oppositions man/woman, human/animal, and with them related discourse of difference. The aim of the dissertation is to point out common characteristics of denigrating representation including violence (with sexual meaning) on animals and women who are reduced to objects, on which visualisation of violence is socially accepted. The initial point comes from feminist theories of Carol J. Adams and her concept of absent referent. Further it works with concept of intersectionality and fluid identity according to Rosi Braidotti, which enables consideration of assigning a claim of personal identity also to animals. From the methodological position, the dissertation is based on...

The question of animals and performance defines the crossroads of the academic fields of Critical Animals Studies and Performance Studies, giving rise to the proposition of inter-species performance. But are all performances that integrate animals into the production inter-species? Or are there different manners of collaboration? In 2008 and my horse, Katrina, and I rode across Canada. Though this event was not undertaken as a performance endeavour, the production that emerged can be understood as a uniquely collaborative human/equine performance – The Ride. The Ride presented a meeting through the middle of an inter-species partnership that was performance in its foundation of physical communication and learned cooperation between a human and a horse. The Ride was an event that “became” a performance due to its active, reciprocal human/equine exchange, and the experiential interaction of a host of audience/participators throughout the course of the journey. Through embracing the positive, expansive qualities of equine alterity, and recognizing both the human and equine perspectives at play within the event, The Ride presented a performance that was fundamentally inter-species.

Thus far, the novel Naked Lunch has not been discussed from the aspect of critical animal studies, nor has it been connected to the theories of Michel Foucault. This essay however, argues that these diverse fields could be connected through the use of the simians that are frequently employed in Naked Lunch. By analyzing the metaphorical role of the simian, the structure of the normalization process can be revealed. Therefore the simian’s metaphorical role becomes to reveal the different stages character goes through in that process and ultimately revealing its negative effects. They also prove to employ the role of abnormality which normalization wants to subtract from the human in order to render her docile. By applying the power mechanisms such as signals, the concept of panopticism and the theory of the docile body to specific passages where simians are highly prominent, the claim of this paper can be demonstrated. Besides Foucault, the theories of Robin Lydenberg are also used consistently throughout the essay due to her valuable observations such as the struggle between body and mind.

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[pt] Esta tese busca analisar, definir e delimitar os contornos da categoria da animalização e as experiências que elas são vinculadas. Identificando a insuficiência de algumas teorizações que desenvolvem suas análises sob o prisma do sexismo, do racismo ou apenas do capitalismo, esta tese o faz a partir da leitura biopolítica das espécies, o que permite compreender como a animalização se funciona como uma operação do biopoder através da constante e ambígua divisão entre humano e animal. Ocorre que, diante de diversas experiências pré-modernas, não é possível equalizar a emergência da animalização, entendida nos termos desta tese, ao contexto da modernidade colonial. Assim, na segunda parte desta tese, são rastreadas algumas experiências que permitirão compreender por que a animalidade, enquanto uma técnica do poder, é condição para a operação da animalização. Nesse sentido, a animalidade se revela como uma técnica do poder a partir da qual o biopoder e a governamentalidade se desenvolvem e se articulam. / [en] This thesis seeks to analyse, define, and delimit the contours of the category of animalization and the experiences that it can be linked to. Identifying the insufficiency of some theorizations that develop their analyses under the prism of sexism, racism, or only capitalism, this thesis does so from the species biopolitics reading, which allows us to understand how animalization functions as an operation of biopower through the constant and ambiguous division between human and animal. It happens that, in the face of several pre-modern experiences, it is not possible to equalize the emergence of animalization, understood in the terms of this thesis, to the context of colonial modernity. Thus, in the second part of this thesis, some experiences are traced that will allow us to understand why animality, as a technique of power, is a condition for the operation of animalization. In this sense, animality reveals itself as a technique of power from which biopower and governmentality develop and articulate.

This thesis starts from the proposition that the ethical meat discourse that is, the discourse recognizing that factory farming is unacceptable while maintaining that it is possible to produce meat in an acceptable way — has not been thoroughly analyzed. Indeed, both the partisans of this idea and the animal rights literature provide oversimplified analyses of this relatively new phenomenon. Considering its explosion in popularity since Michael Pollan published the essay “An Animal's Place” in The New York Times Magazine in 2002, this lack of research is particularly problematic for the animal rights movement as this new discourse directly counters its objectives. As such, this thesis uses Gramsci’s concept of passive revolution to develop a richer analysis of the apparent marginalizing effect that this discourse has on the animal rights movement. More precisely, the thesis addresses the question: “If the emergence of the ethical meat discourse is understood as part of a passive revolution, what can the specific process of passive revolution tell us about the impacts of the ethical meat discourse on the animal rights movement?” It argues that the passive revolution operates on two levels: (1) it depoliticizes the issue of meat consumption by presenting it as irrelevant and reducing it to technical details and (2) it absorbs the moderate elements of the animal rights movement by proposing an attractive alternative. Both of these processes lead to the marginalization of the few animal advocacy organizations still criticizing ethical meat. The analysis is divided in three parts. The first and second analyze respectively the content of the discourse and internal dynamics of the coalition formed around it using Maarten Hajer’s concept of discourse-coalition. Building on this comprehensive understanding of the ethical meat discourse, the actual process of passive revolution is analyzed by looking at the way the meat industry, environmental organizations and animal advocacy organizations engage with it.