Speaking about nonhuman animals

By Dr. G (Carol Glasser)

The Spring 2017 cohort of Animals and Society students have a diverse range of experiences with nonhuman animals and come from a variety of majors. We found early on that we all  think and speak differently about nonhuman animals, so one of our first tasks as a class was to agree on how we would speak about nonhuman animals in our writing on this website. To prepare for making these decisions I assigned excerpts from Fear of the Animal Planet and Liberate your Language. We spent the week reading, thinking and engaging in dialogue about agency of other animals and the representation of nonhuman animals. Here are the rules that the class mutually agreed upon.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Inaccurate terms: There are times when language does not label things appropriately. For example, the term hamburger is used instead of “cow meat” or “meat from a cow”. The way to handle inaccurate terms is up to each author. When appropriate, authors will attempt to use accurate langue in their writings. However, it may it may be decided that too much shifting of the regularly used terms and language (even if inaccurate) can actually serve to detract from the ability of a reader to comprehend and focus on the information being presented. In these cases, an asterisk (*) or a numbered footnote can be used and the author can clarify this term.
 
Mass Terms: Avoid using mass terms when referring to nonhuman animals

Speciesism: Avoid speciesism in your arguments and language
 
Defining words: There are many words we know as scholars with a focus on human-animal studies and critical animal studies, but that may not be known words. When these words are used in our writing we will define them, either in the body of the text or in a footnote.