The Animal-To-Come: Zoo-Politics in Deconstruction

Robert Briggs lays out an original interpretation of Derrida's work which takes the question of the animal beyond the critique of political and philosophical anthropocentrism. Eschewing approaches grounded in animal vulnerability, Briggs reviews theories of power, politics and culture in terms of their capacity to enable novel images of zoopolitics. Along the way he engages with recently translated work in the emerging field of philosophical ethology, including Vinciane Despret's 'What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?' (2016) and Dominique Lestel's empirical and constructivist phenomenology of human-animal relations. Through these and other interventions, Briggs departs from well-established positions in animal studies to develop new ways of thinking animal politics today.