Article
Critical Animal and Media Studies: Expanding the Understanding of Oppression in Communication Research
European Journal of Communication
(2018)
Abstract
Critical and communication studies have traditionally neglected the oppression conducted by humans towards other animals. However, our (mis)treatment of other animals is the result of public consent supported by a morally speciesist-anthropocentric system of values. Speciesism or anthroparchy, as much as any other mainstream ideologies, feed the media and at the same time are perpetuated by them. The goal of this paper is to remedy this neglect by introducing the subdiscipline of Critical Animal and Media Studies (CAMS). CAMS takes inspiration both from critical animal studies, which is so far the most consolidated critical field of research in the social sciences addressing our exploitation of other animals, and the normative-moral stance rooted in the cornerstones of traditional critical media studies. The authors argue that the CAMS approach is an unavoidable step forward for critical media and communication studies to engage with the expanded circle of concerns of contemporary ethical thinking
Keywords
- critical media studies,
- critical animal studies,
- ethics,
- oppression,
- speciesism,
- anthropocentrism,
- communication
Disciplines
Publication Date
March 18, 2018
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323118763937
Citation Information
Almiron, N., Cole, M., & Freeman, C. P. (2018). Critical animal and media studies: Expanding the understanding of oppression in communication research, European Journal of Communication, 1 -14.