Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene
Geologists and ecologists report that Earth is undergoing its sixth massive extinction event, an occasion that calls for radical revision of conservation ethics. The biologist Edward O. Wilson has proposed that conservation projects in the Anthropocene should be grounded in <i>biophilia</i&...
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doaj-8ebbde304b7143e8848fe3e6d0ef1a572020-11-25T01:08:20ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602019-03-018410610.3390/socsci8040106socsci8040106Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the AnthropoceneMary Trachsel0Rhetoric, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAGeologists and ecologists report that Earth is undergoing its sixth massive extinction event, an occasion that calls for radical revision of conservation ethics. The biologist Edward O. Wilson has proposed that conservation projects in the Anthropocene should be grounded in <i>biophilia</i>, an evolved, relational (or biocentric) mode of perception that activates aesthetic and affective responses to non-human life alongside cognitive understanding. Because biophilia includes non-rational modes of perception, the nurturing of biophilic conservation ethics cannot fall to ecology alone; imaginative literature, for example, can prompt readers to imagine and work to realize more environmentally friendly roles for humans and, further, can assist in cultivating a conservation ethic suited to current ecological conditions. In particular, coming-of-age novels about friendships between people and pigs offer an alternative to the industrial “pork story„ that seeks to gain narrative control of relational norms between people and pigs, at the expense of biodiversity and ecological health. Three such novels published in 2017 depict human–pig friendships, a relational model created by pigs’ shift in status from food to companion animals. In presenting this realignment, the stories facilitate development of a biophilic conservation ethic.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/4/106biocentrismbiophiliaconservation ethicsfriendshiphuman–animal relationshipsnarrative ethicspigrelational ethicsyoung adult literature |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Mary Trachsel |
spellingShingle |
Mary Trachsel Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene Social Sciences biocentrism biophilia conservation ethics friendship human–animal relationships narrative ethics pig relational ethics young adult literature |
author_facet |
Mary Trachsel |
author_sort |
Mary Trachsel |
title |
Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene |
title_short |
Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene |
title_full |
Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene |
title_fullStr |
Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene |
title_full_unstemmed |
Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene |
title_sort |
befriending your food: pigs and people coming of age in the anthropocene |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Social Sciences |
issn |
2076-0760 |
publishDate |
2019-03-01 |
description |
Geologists and ecologists report that Earth is undergoing its sixth massive extinction event, an occasion that calls for radical revision of conservation ethics. The biologist Edward O. Wilson has proposed that conservation projects in the Anthropocene should be grounded in <i>biophilia</i>, an evolved, relational (or biocentric) mode of perception that activates aesthetic and affective responses to non-human life alongside cognitive understanding. Because biophilia includes non-rational modes of perception, the nurturing of biophilic conservation ethics cannot fall to ecology alone; imaginative literature, for example, can prompt readers to imagine and work to realize more environmentally friendly roles for humans and, further, can assist in cultivating a conservation ethic suited to current ecological conditions. In particular, coming-of-age novels about friendships between people and pigs offer an alternative to the industrial “pork story„ that seeks to gain narrative control of relational norms between people and pigs, at the expense of biodiversity and ecological health. Three such novels published in 2017 depict human–pig friendships, a relational model created by pigs’ shift in status from food to companion animals. In presenting this realignment, the stories facilitate development of a biophilic conservation ethic. |
topic |
biocentrism biophilia conservation ethics friendship human–animal relationships narrative ethics pig relational ethics young adult literature |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/4/106 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT marytrachsel befriendingyourfoodpigsandpeoplecomingofageintheanthropocene |
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