Biography
Primarily, my research examines the epistemic bases of inter-species oppression, specifically how the mutual implication of knowledge and power can make the former a weapon of the latter. My dissertation, for instance, considers the ethics of domestication through the lens of disability, revealing how the prevailing responses to domestication, both for and against, are organized by shared ableist anxieties that conflate dependency with indignity. Drawing on the work of Lori Gruen, I identify the principal harm of domestication as a dignitary wound which, despite its symbolic and material effects on animals, does its first harm to humans by distorting their perceptual abilities as moral agents. My dissertation culminates in a reparative call, the therapeutic effect of which is neither redress nor restoration but atonement, opening the doors to new forms of inter-species relationality between humans and the animals whose lives have woven together with our own.
I maintain a related interest in the philosophy of language, most especially to do with the nature of animal-based pejoratives, and, more recently, in film analysis, but I'll write about nearly any topic under the sun, provided it catches my attention. Frankly, I've got more ideas than I've got time to pursue them in my academic work, which is why I maintain a personal blog where you can read my more informal musings.