A Manifesto on Animals and Ecocriticism

Abstract

Since ecocriticism is a developing theory that, among other things, seeks activist interventions based on ethics, it is difficult to accept the exclusion of animals from critiques of environmentally-hostile thinking and practices. This paper is a manifesto explaining some of the reasons why animals have been left out of the ecocritical picture and suggesting some ways that animals might be included. No activity that endorses an ethics of exploitation?either explicitly (as hunting and fishing do) or tacitly (as the exclusion of animals from the theory does)?can possibly fall within the category of ecocritical theory. This manifesto argues vigorously for the inclusion of animals in ecocritical theory.