Bird’s-Eye Views: An interview with pattrice jones

Abstract

Bird’s-Eye Views is a collection of articles, essays and columns written over the span of thirty years. The topics range widely, from queering animal liberation to direct action and life in an animal sanctuary, but there are several red threads that connect the pieces. The essays are deeply personal and emphasize the importance of taking into account the perspective of other animals when thinking and writing about them. They also challenge anthropocentric-rationalist interpretations of thinking, as well as capitalist ways of being, and explore the connections between different forms of oppression. These themes are interconnected, which makes the book more than simply a collection of essays: jones describes a multispecies philosophical model for living and thinking differently, which can be seen as a counterweight for capitalist and neoliberal ways of existing, developed together with other animals.