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Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice
Challenges the way we think about pit bulls and their human companions

Fifty-plus years of media fearmongering coupled with targeted breed bans have produced what could be called “America’s Most Wanted” dog: the pit bull. However, at the turn of the twenty-first century, competing narratives began to change the meaning of “pit bull.” Increasingly represented as loving members of mostly white, middle-class, heteronormative families, pit bulls and pit bull–type dogs are now frequently seen as victims rather than perpetrators, beings deserving not fear or scorn but rather care and compassion.

Drawing from the increasingly contentious world of human/dog politics and featuring rich ethnographic research among dogs and their advocates, Bad Dog explores how relationships between humans and animals not only reflect but actively shape experiences of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, breed, and species. Harlan Weaver proposes a critical and queer reading of pit bull politics and animal advocacy, challenging the zero-sum logic through which care for animals is seen as detracting from care for humans. Introducing understandings rooted in examinations of what it means for humans to touch, feel, sense, and think with and through relationships with nonhuman animals, Weaver suggests powerful ways to seek justice for marginalized humans and animals together.

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Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice
Challenges the way we think about pit bulls and their human companions

Fifty-plus years of media fearmongering coupled with targeted breed bans have produced what could be called “America’s Most Wanted” dog: the pit bull. However, at the turn of the twenty-first century, competing narratives began to change the meaning of “pit bull.” Increasingly represented as loving members of mostly white, middle-class, heteronormative families, pit bulls and pit bull–type dogs are now frequently seen as victims rather than perpetrators, beings deserving not fear or scorn but rather care and compassion.

Drawing from the increasingly contentious world of human/dog politics and featuring rich ethnographic research among dogs and their advocates, Bad Dog explores how relationships between humans and animals not only reflect but actively shape experiences of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, breed, and species. Harlan Weaver proposes a critical and queer reading of pit bull politics and animal advocacy, challenging the zero-sum logic through which care for animals is seen as detracting from care for humans. Introducing understandings rooted in examinations of what it means for humans to touch, feel, sense, and think with and through relationships with nonhuman animals, Weaver suggests powerful ways to seek justice for marginalized humans and animals together.

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Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice

Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice

Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice
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Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice

Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice

Overview

Challenges the way we think about pit bulls and their human companions

Fifty-plus years of media fearmongering coupled with targeted breed bans have produced what could be called “America’s Most Wanted” dog: the pit bull. However, at the turn of the twenty-first century, competing narratives began to change the meaning of “pit bull.” Increasingly represented as loving members of mostly white, middle-class, heteronormative families, pit bulls and pit bull–type dogs are now frequently seen as victims rather than perpetrators, beings deserving not fear or scorn but rather care and compassion.

Drawing from the increasingly contentious world of human/dog politics and featuring rich ethnographic research among dogs and their advocates, Bad Dog explores how relationships between humans and animals not only reflect but actively shape experiences of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, breed, and species. Harlan Weaver proposes a critical and queer reading of pit bull politics and animal advocacy, challenging the zero-sum logic through which care for animals is seen as detracting from care for humans. Introducing understandings rooted in examinations of what it means for humans to touch, feel, sense, and think with and through relationships with nonhuman animals, Weaver suggests powerful ways to seek justice for marginalized humans and animals together.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780295748030
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication date: 03/26/2021
Series: Feminist Technosciences
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 240
File size: 16 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Harlan Weaver is assistant professor of gender, women, and sexuality studies at Kansas State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 3

1 Gimme Shelter: Saviorist Storying, Animal "Rescue," and Interspecies Intersectionality 23

2 The Human, the Animal, the Episteme 55

3 Becoming in Kind: Race, Class, Gender, and Nation in Cultures of Dog Rescue and Dogfighting 101

4 Queer Imaginings and Affiliative Possibilities 128

Conclusion: Imagining Otherwise 170

Notes 191

Index 219

What People are Saying About This

Lori Gruen

"A truly welcome addition to a complex literature on human relationships with dogs."

Neel Ahuja

"An excellent book that will start new debates in Trans-animal studies and on race and dog-rescue cultures."

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Related Subjects

Social Sciences
Gender Studies
Gender Studies - General & Miscellaneous
Social Sciences
Gender Studies
Gender Studies - General & Miscellaneous

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