Degree Name
MALS (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies)
Program
Liberal Studies
Date of Award
5-2015
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Marie Tedesco
Committee Members
Allen Coates, Jennifer Pealer
Abstract
The oppression of nonhuman animals in Western culture observed in societal institutions and practices such as the factory farm, hunting, and vivisection, exhibits alarming linkages and parallels to some episodes of the oppression of human animals. This work traces the foundations of anthropocentrism in Western philosophy and connects them to the oppressions of racism, sexism, and ethnocentrism. In outlining a uniform theory of oppression detailed through the marginalization, isolation, and exploitation of human and nonhuman animals alike, parallels among the groups emerge as the fused oppression of each exhibits a commonality among them. The analysis conducted within this work highlights the development and sustainment of oppression in the West and illuminates the socio-historical tendencies apparent in the oppression of human and nonhuman animals alike.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Shields, Christopher A., "In the Shadows of Dominion: Anthropocentrism and the Continuance of a Culture of Oppression" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2474. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2474
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
Animal Studies Commons, Cultural History Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons