Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Theory and Criticism

Supervisor

Sharon Sliwinski

Abstract

What calls for justice? Are we called to do justice to other animals? How ought we to understand and relate to the other animals around us? The work of Jacques Derrida offers a strong foundation from which to consider these questions, and I build on his work by developing a set of clear conceptual tools to understand justice and animality (or animal alterity) through the demands they make on us. I argue that this interrelation between justice and animality can be addressed in a profound way by considering the figure of "the call"—including the calls of other animals and the call of justice. I use the "the call" to offer the reader a tool for opening up their own relations to other animals, their responsibilities to them, and the richly differentiated lives of those other animals, all of which can be addressed by carefully listening to the call.

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