Feeling Animal Death: Being Host to Ghosts

Description

The emotional exchange between so-called “humans” and more-than-human creatures is an overlooked phenomenon in societies characterized by the ubiquitous deaths of animals. This text offers examples of people across diverse disciplines and perspectives—from biomedical research to black theology to art—learning and performing emotions, expanding their desires, discovering new ways to behave, and altering their sense of self, purpose, and community because of passionate, but not romanticized, attachments to animals. By articulating the emotional ties that bind them to specific animals’ lives and deaths, these authors play host to creaturely ghosts who reorient their world vision and work in the world, offering examples of affect and feeling needed to enliven multi-species ethics. Contents List of Images Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. OVERCOMING INSTITUTIONAL NUMBNESS Ch01. Visual Feeling One Ch02. The Gift of the Monkey Who Danced into Oblivion and the One Dressed in a Cage Ch03. Mourning Tiger Mascots in Baton Rouge Ch04. Ghostly Greyhounds Ch05. Encountering Loss Ch06. Claimed by Roadkill Ch07. Prophetic Labrador Part II. THE PUBLIC POWER OF INTIMATE SORROW Ch08. Visual Feeling Two Ch09. “Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story” Ch10. Hos-Pet-Ality Ch11. Macey’s Ashes Ch12. The Transformer Ch13. “How Do You Know His Name Is Gabriel?” Ch14. Nikki Part III. EXPERIMENTS IN FEELING AND RITUAL Ch15. Visual Feeling Three Ch16. Logos, Pathos, and the Absent Presence of the Persons We Eat Ch17. Ghosts at a Glance Ch18. Goats of My Childhood Ch19. Living in Awareness of Animal Death Ch20. Francisco y Chica Ch21. Salvaging Shame, Saving Ourselves Ch22. Ghost Stories Index About the Contributors