School of Social and Political Science

Description

Abstract:

This paper attempts a generative encounter between the commitment articulated by the frame of Multispecies Justice (MSJ) to the flourishing of more-than-human worlds, and a range of historical materialist theories of ‘nature’ and capital.

The aim of this intervention is to trouble the identification, by certain scholars of MSJ, of ‘Western thinking’, ‘industrialisation’ and ‘modernity’ as the primary barriers that need to be overcome if more-than-human worlds are to flourish.

To do so, it highlights and explores critical ‘western’ traditions that have existed in immanent opposition to dominant liberal theories of personhood, ‘progress’ and relationalities between living beings.

In doing so, the paper opens up strategic possibilities for MSJ and materialist politics to advance each other’s agendas, or perhaps even to recognise the mutual core of these projects to protect and nurture communities of life against all forms of domination, and advance as one.  

To draw out some of these theoretical perspectives and explore how the different choices of lens impact our ability to meaningfully contest the ongoing attacks on all living beings, the paper will engage with contemporary environmental politics in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.