Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Davis, Janet M. (1964-....)
Titre(s) : The gospel of kindness [Texte imprimé] : animal welfare and the making of modern America / Janet M. Davis
Publication : Oxford : Oxford University Press, copyright [2016]
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (xiii, 302 pages) : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note(s) : Includes index. - Includes bibliographical references and index
"When we consider modern American animal advocacy, we often think of veganism, no-kill
shelters, Internet campaigns against trophy hunting, or celebrities declaring that
they would "rather go naked" than wear fur. Contemporary critics readily dismiss animal
protectionism as a modern secular movement that privileges animals over people. Yet
the movement's roots are deeply tied to the nation's history of religious revivalism
and social reform. The Gospel of Kindness explores the broad cultural and social influence
of the American animal welfare movement at home and overseas from the Second Great
Awakening to the Second World War. Dedicated primarily to laboring animals at its
inception in an animal-powered world, the movement eventually included virtually all
areas of human and animal interaction. Embracing animals as brethren through biblical
concepts of stewardship, a diverse coalition of temperance groups, teachers, Protestant
missionaries, religious leaders, civil rights activists, policy makers, and anti-imperialists
forged an expansive transnational "gospel of kindness," which defined animal mercy
as a signature American value. Their interpretation of this "gospel" extended beyond
the New Testament to preach kindness as a secular and spiritual truth. As a cultural
product of antebellum revivalism, reform, and the rights revolution of the Civil War
era, animal kindness became a barometer of free moral agency, higher civilization,
and assimilation. Yet given the cultural, economic, racial, and ethnic diversity of
the United States, its empire, and other countries of contact, standards of kindness
and cruelty were culturally contingent and potentially controversial. Diverse constituents
defended specific animal practices, such as cockfighting, bullfighting, songbird consumption,
and kosher slaughter, as inviolate cultural traditions that reinforced their right
to self-determination. Ultimately, American animal advocacy became a powerful humanitarian
ideal, a barometer of inclusion and national belonging at home and abroad that endures
to this day" ; "From Sarah McLachlan as spokesperson in ASPCA commercials to Animal
Cops television shows, the prevention of cruelty against animals seems a core value
in American society. Yet flogging horses, betting on cockfights, and shooting species
of birds to extinction to adorn women's hats were once common. After the Civil War
a culture of animal advocacy developed in the United States. How and why a social
movement centered on the defense of animals came about--and how this changed American
culture--is the subject of Janet Davis' wide-ranging book. Janet Davis describes a
period during which animal power was gradually being replaced by industrial power.
Animal welfare organizations developed out of an urban setting, as humane societies
mandated the humane treatment of laboring horses and oxen, combated vivisection, demanded
care of animals bound for stockyards and for circus shows, and called for an end to
the needless killing of birds for fashion. Advocates also preached the gospel of kindness
abroad in India, Morocco, Turkey, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, seeing kindness
toward animals as a crucial part of modern American values that should replace the
ways of backward cultures. Drawing heavily on religious faith, animal humanitarians
connected animal welfare with virtually all facets of life--food, sanitation, entertainment,
literature, labor, transportation, and many other topics--and made those they reached
with their message think carefully about what divides humans and animals"
Sujet(s) : Animaux -- Protection -- États-Unis -- 1800-....
Animaux -- Droits -- États-Unis -- 1800-....
Valeurs sociales -- États-Unis -- 1800-....
Indice(s) Dewey :
179.3 (23e éd.) = Attitude envers les animaux
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780199733156. - ISBN 0199733155. - ISBN 9780199911325 (erroné). - ISBN 9780199908882
(erroné). - ISBN 9780190092443. - ISBN 0190092440
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb467427462
Notice n° :
FRBNF46742746
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
Table des matières : "A righteous man regards the life of his beast": the roots of the gospel of kindness
in the second great awakening and antebellum reform ; "A world of kindness is a
copy of heaven": animals, moral uplift, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
; From dog eaters to mule beaters: representing the accused as alien other ; An empire
of kindness: American animal welfare policy and moral expansionism overseas ; "A
country rich in cattle": gospels of kindness in colonial South Asia ; "So thoroughly
un-American": making historical sense of the bullfight.