Explores the intersection of biopolitics and the animal question, pushing the debate in new directions

• Remedies the inherent species blindness of biopolitical theories that have so far mostly excluded nonhuman subjects
• Contributes to the ‘political turn’ in animal studies that problematises and expands the scope of inquiry beyond the traditional comfort zone of ethics and ecology
• Clarifies and concretises into new, powerful interventions the important work that has preceded it at the intersection of biopolitics and animal studies
• Addresses the necessary intersection of biopolitics and animality from a number of different perspectives, from ancient philosophy to literary and postcolonial theory, from political theology to philosophical ethology and critical theory

The two issues around which this collection revolves are that it is impossible to address biopolitics without taking the animal question into account, and that the animal question inherently concerns the politics of life beyond species barriers. Although biopolitical theories are necessarily structured around animal metaphors, they predominantly refer to human corporeality. On the other hand, the animal question is typically treated as an ethical issue, that is, a question of how human beings, the dominant species, ought to learn how to live peaceably with and respect other forms of life. This collection of essays by leading scholars in the fields of biopolitics and animal studies problematises, reconceptualises, and redefines these categories in order to realise the full potential of the biopolitical framework of analysis in the context of animal studies and praxis.