Beasts of Burden by Sunaura Taylor

Animal rights are never just about animal rights, that is what you learn the more familiar you become with the movement. How we identify ourselves as human beings has always been connected with our abilities, whether that is our so-called unique intelligence, or our ability to use complex machines. But what happens when you don’t have these abilities? 

If you are looking to understand more about both ableism and animal rights, the best book you can possibly read is Beasts of Burden. Sunaura Taylor is a disabled writer. She draws on her own experience to explore the boundaries of what it means to be human and how the quest for justice is linked across species. The book is extremely important for helping us think outside usual categories of what it means to be ‘human,’ and ‘animal.’ It really shifted my understanding of the world. 

Sunaura reminds us that animal liberation and human liberation are intrinsically linked, that one will not be achieved without the other. Categories that are created in order to oppress humans, are also used to oppress the non-human. 

Title: Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation

Author: Sunaura Taylor

ISBN: 978-1-62097-128-4

Publisher: The New Press

Sunaura Taylor

Sunaura Taylor is a professor at UC Berkley, she earned her Phd in American Studies from New York University.

“Veganism is an embodied act of resistance to objectification and exploitation across difference – a corporeal way of enacting one’s political and ethical beliefs daily.”

Abdourahamane Ly has been vegan for the past seven years now. He is extremely passionate about animal rights and encouraging more humans, especially Africans, to go vegan. He was born in Guinea in West Africa but spent the last 13 years in China. He is currently in Rwanda spreading the vegan message. You can follow him on Instagram at @fulanivegan and X at @fulanivegan.