Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 20 hours ago
In this talk, Maneesha Deckha presents the argument in her forthcoming book from University of Toronto Press of the same title. She calls for a non-anthropocentric reorientation for Canadian law, by criticizing the colonial legal treatment of animals as property under the common law, but also finding fault with personhood as an appropriate animal-friendly replacement. Instead, marshalling feminist and postcolonial insights, as well as critical animal studies, the book theorizes a new legal category altogether, namely beingness, as better able to protect animals from exploitation and value animals for who they are. Professor Deckha’s talk will delineate this new concept as well as outline how the foundations of Canadian law must otherwise change to move toward justice for animals.
This talk was part of our annual library lecture series prepared in partnership with the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, the Department of Philosophy at Western University, and the London Public Library.
Maneesha Deckha, University of Victoria
November 26, 2020
In this talk, Maneesha Deckha presents the argument in her forthcoming book from University of Toronto Press of the same title. She calls for a non-anthropocentric reorientation for Canadian law, by criticizing the colonial legal treatment of animals as property under the common law, but also finding fault with personhood as an appropriate animal-friendly replacement. Instead, marshalling feminist and postcolonial insights, as well as critical animal studies, the book theorizes a new legal category altogether, namely beingness, as better able to protect animals from exploitation and value animals for who they are. Professor Deckha’s talk will delineate this new concept as well as outline how the foundations of Canadian law must otherwise change to move toward justice for animals.
This talk was part of our annual library lecture series prepared in partnership with the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, the Department of Philosophy at Western University, and the London Public Library.
Maneesha Deckha, University of Victoria
November 26, 2020
