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Research Articles
Submitted: 2023-12-17
Published: 2025-10-19

Sanctuaries as Refusal

Brock University
Herbert Marcuse animal sanctuaries Great Refusal Freudo-Marxism technological rationality

Abstract

Animal sanctuaries play a crucial role in the struggle for animal liberation and multispecies social justice. Not only do they provide exciting possibilities for the development of new kinds of relationships and communities with other animals, but they also continue the tradition of Great Refusal as envisioned by public intellectual and leading figure of the New Left, Herbert Marcuse. Sanctuaries are incredibly diverse and deeply flawed institutions. They vary greatly depending on the types of animals they house, the forms of violence the animals have been subjected to prior to their arrival, the resources available, and the vision of the sanctuary founders, among other things. Moreover, animals in sanctuaries are still captive and are still considered property under the law. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, sanctuaries share a unique commitment to prioritizing other animals’ wellbeing and flourishing, to creating environments where animals they can live in relative comfort and peace, in the midst of a raging war against them.

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