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Research Articles
Submitted: 2025-07-23
Published: 2026-08-12

Animal Subalterns

Arihanta Institute
Subaltern Animals Gramsci Haraway Violence Entanglement

Abstract

This article examines the conceptual and political implications of the term “animal” by linking animality to subalternity. Engaging the work of theorists such as Dinesh Wadiwel, Syl Ko, Donna Haraway, and Gayatri Spivak, I argue that both nonhuman animals and some human populations occupy the status of social animals—figures stripped of political existence and rendered intrinsically dominable. I explore the potential and pitfalls of applying Subaltern Studies, particularly its second wave, to nonhuman animals, ultimately advancing “subaltern” as a trans-species designation within established social justice paradigms. This proposal challenges posthuman entanglement theories for downplaying systemic domination and urges a return to frameworks of power, hierarchy, and resistance—situating the struggle for animal liberation as one inseparable from broader anti-oppression politics.

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