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By Amanda Peltier "How would you feel if separated from your family, you were shipped to different cities in a cage no less, bound of life, with pain/pleasure techniques, and complete humility for performance under duress, a whip no less. If you were a tiger would you do it? Would you break away, think of escape and if desperate, kill and avow your infinite humiliation and guaranteed death? Do you do it now as a human?" This is an excerpt from Display Performance and Sport, an article we read in Animals and Society. These words wouldn't have hit home the way they did had I not been in the circumstance I find myself in. I have been incarcerated at Minnesota Correctional Facility- Shakopee since May of 2014. Had I taken this class outside of this setting, having never had the experience of imprisonment, I wouldn't have the power to reach the depth of empathy that I currently have for nonhuman animals.
Animals and Society is a course that explores the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals. Students learn vital perspectives in the field of human-animal studies and will explore a range of topics that are relevant to nonhuman animals in our society. Through dialogue and journaling, students will discover their own perspectives on nonhumans and how humans relate to them. Reading and writing assignments will also provide students the opportunity to question their own perspectives and the perspectives of others. Growing up in the country surrounded by woods, fields, and on a large lake, inspired a great love and respect of nature and nonhuman animals. When one coexists with nature, there is little fear of animals, including insects and snakes. They are a part of your everyday life. You learn from a young age the important roles that each has on the environment. Bees, birds, and butterflies pollinate, spiders eat mosquitoes and other pesky bugs, and humans use up natural resources. That we are as animal, as nonhuman animals. In my first year of college, long before my incarceration, I focused my studies on psychology and sociology, so this class wasn't a far stretch from my life or my interests. Taking this class in this environment, however, gives it a whole new experience. Focusing on my education now is easier and more important. I don't have to have a job, I can't attend social gatherings, and I have zero responsibilities. This is a very different scenario from my other college experiences. On the other hand, there were some class activities I wish I could have experienced, such as the six-day vegan challenge that our on-campus students do. The extreme concern of security complicated our ability to receive the full experience of the class, but we were able to be flexible and creative. Outside of the classroom, being a felon has a stigma of being a failure, irresponsible, and untrustworthy; thus, making my educational success additionally crucial. I know what it is to be viewed as an animal and to be treated like one. Being ripped from my family and the surroundings that brought me peace and comfort. Becoming bound of life, existing to not exist, and being publicly humiliated, gave me a greater understanding of what nonhuman animals think and feel. On the television series Yellowstone, a character says "People like to think we ain't animals, like we've evolved or some shit. You learn quickly in prison that we haven't. Forget lions, snakes, and shit; we are the worst kind of animals, the most evil." I don't think this line is just about inmates, it's about all humans. What other species on this planet cages and binds other animals, even their own species, without a second thought? As if that isn't enough, we find entertainment in it. Lions, tigers, and elephants in the circus bring us family entertainment. Zebras, primates, and giraffes help us educate our children in the zoo's while we are thoroughly entertained. Orcas, dolphins, and seals put on shows for us in aquariums. Other humans, their trauma, and poor choices bring us mesmerizing news stories and television shows. Is this what being evolved looks like? Animals, both human and nonhuman, are adaptable. They, or should I say we, will change and evolve to our surroundings. If you cage an animal they will be affected negatively. If you hunt an animal they will go into fight or flight mode. If you kill or capture an animal, many others will be affected. None are perfect. All have choices to make, some will be good and others will be bad choices. All animals have families, relationships, feelings, thoughts, and emotions. All animals are both predator and prey. We as humans fall into all these categories, just as do nonhuman animals. It is from a prison cell, or cage, that realization of this is heightened. It is there that you clearly see other perspectives and that there are so many better options. It is there that you fully embrace the helplessness of nonhuman animals. Where your helplessness and theirs become one. True empathy is easier to fully obtain when one has walked in the shoes of another. What are we really teaching our children about animals when they aren't in their natural habitat? What is so entertaining about watching other animals suffer? Why do we find enjoyment in others pain? Why do we feel it appropriate to cage, harm, or cast away those that make mistakes? Do we care what vulnerable situation animals were in, to end up in captivity, both human and nonhuman? Why don't we do something to change the way we treat animals? Being in captivity, helpless, with no voice puts me in a position to fully understand what nonhuman animals experience at the hands of humans. There is a minimal amount of stimulation in prison, so I try to take every opportunity I can to maintain my mental and emotional health. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to receive continued education. This class felt as though I had a voice; if only for a semester and through the eyes of other species, I was heard. This opportunity through MSU Mankato, shows me that I matter. That there are people that are willing to take the first steps for change. That there is still hope in humanity. What steps will you take today to make a positive change? Author Bio: Amanda Peltier is a student at Minnesota State University Mankato, while incarcerated on a 30 year to life sentence at Minnesota Correctional Facility- Shakopee. Amanda, a mother of four, is from a small farming town in west central Minnesota, where she has enjoyed being with nature and nonhuman animals of all kinds. She has a passion for psychology and sociology, as well as, prison reform. |
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This is a website about nonhuman animals, written by human animals taking a Society and Animals class at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Archives
April 2024
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