A decolonial feminist approach to violence against animals

Abstract

In this chapter, I utilize feminist conceptions of ‘violence’ as a way of framing or understanding animal rights claims. I draw upon feminist, posthumanist and decolonial literature which has critiqued the hierarchies of power that position some humans (typically the white, heterosexual, able-bodied Western man) above others – and how the human/non-human divide is part of this hierarchy. I reflect on the oppression and exploitation of humans and non-human animals to highlight how the shared aim of ending or fighting violence connects animal rights to broader issues of social justice, and is therefore of concern to feminist legal studies. My chapter concludes by exploring how a decolonial feminist approach to violence against animals might proceed, taking account of the limitations of legal, human rights and carceral mechanisms for advancing justice and overcoming structural violence for human and non-human animals.

Metadata

Item Type:	Book Section
Authors/Creators:	Tongue, Z.L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4625-4773
Editors:	Godden-Rasul, N. Kula, L.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Editors and Contributors Severally 2026. This is a draft chapter/article. The final version is available in Research Handbook on Gender, Violence and Law edited by Nikki Godden-Rasul and Sidonia Lucia Kula, published in 2026, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781035319404.00012 It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. Without limiting the author's and publisher's exclusive rights, any unauthorised use of this work to train generative artificial intelligence (Al) technologies is expressly prohibited.
Keywords:	Animal Rights; Decolonial Feminism; Structural Violence; Posthumanism
Dates:	Accepted: 14 May 2025 Published (online): 21 July 2026 Published: 21 July 2026
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Law (Leeds)
Date Deposited:	30 Jun 2025 13:53
Last Modified:	17 Sep 2026 11:40
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Edward Elgar
Identification Number:	10.4337/9781035319404.00012
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:228409

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A decolonial feminist approach to violence against animals

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