Is Multiculturalism Good for Animals?

Abstract

This chapter interrogates the view that animals fare better in white, Western dominant liberal culture than non-Western (invariably racialized) cultures. To counter the literature that assumes that multiculturalism is bad for animals, this chapter considers why multiculturalism is good for animals and argues that we should abandon the quick association between minoritized cultural practices and animal suffering (which is not meant to suggest that minoritized cultures are safe havens for animals). This chapter points to the misrepresentation of non-Western/colonized cultures as comparatively regressive for animals through a comparative analysis of one cultural arena: legal texts and reform. The analysis highlights the entrenched anthropocentrism of liberal legal systems as well as animal-friendly contemporary legal developments in the global South.