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Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out

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4.54  ·  Rating details ·  164 ratings  ·  31 reviews
In this scintillating combination of critical race theory, social commentary, veganism, and gender analysis, media studies scholar Aph Ko offers a compelling vision of a reimagined social justice movement marked by a deconstruction of the conceptual framework that keeps activists silo-ed fighting their various oppressions--and one another. Through a subtle and extended exa ...more
ebook, 168 pages
Published October 2nd 2019 by Lantern Books (first published 2019)
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A. Breeze Harper
I just finished Aph Ko’s newest book, “Racism as Zoological Witchcraft”. Here is my review.

In this book, Aph Ko offers the reader to consider the space of ‘animality’ as a more productive framework in understanding the limits of mainstream animal rights rhetoric as well as traditional methods of USA mainstream anti-racism movements.

Animality, a site of white supremacy and bedrock of the US racial caste system, is explored through two popular media: The Bachelor and the movie “Get Out”. Ko exami
...more
Corvus
Once in a while, a theorist comes along and helps you realize just how stuck in a paradigm your thinking is. There is a long history of our movements often being categorized by waves or generations- a practice that often puts white voices in the spotlight. As times and society change (and while many things stay the same,) daring authors, activists, thinkers, and others break through what is accepted at the time to create something needed and new. These people are critical to the evolution of thi ...more
Kevin
May 09, 2021 rated it really liked it
Recommended to Kevin by: Bridget McGovern
Since I cannot seem to finish any of the 40 political economy books I started, stepping out of my comfort zone with this recommendation (so bear with me!)…

Highlights:
--Thesis: activism on race and animal rights are siloed and fragmentary, thus an “intersectional” fix between these two fragments does not capture a broader concept: white supremacy’s use of “minoritized bodies and animality” to construct its racial superiority.
--Note: this book seems to be written in an accessible manner for activ
...more
Martin Rowe
Jan 14, 2020 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
I'm the publisher of this book and wanted to share a few thoughts about it. In one sense, RACISM AS ZOOLOGICAL WITCHCRAFT is a deeper exploration of post-colonial philosophy and theory surrounding the animalization of the black body that Aph and her sister Syl lay out and discuss in their book APHRO-ISM. In another sense, it's a book of cultural criticism and media studies—particularly around the presentation of black bodies in popular culture. In still another sense, RACISM is a remarkably sinu ...more
Mark Robison
Feb 29, 2020 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
I don't know how Aph Ko does it. She's like your kind and generous older sister with a PhD who re-states academic social theory in a way that makes it relevant to your life. She still uses phrases like "decolonial Black epistemic frameworks," but never leaves you hanging there confused. She puts things in the context of "The Bachelor" and the horror film "Get Out," which is used throughout the book to describe the ways that white supremacy exploits and consumes black and brown bodies as well as ...more
akemi
Jan 08, 2021 rated it really liked it
A short, powerful exploration of 1) white supremacy as a cannibalistic project that consumes animalised black bodies whilst projecting its cannibalism back onto its victims, and 2) a call to go beyond the prescriptive and simplistic politics of animal liberation, black liberation, or sexual liberation, alone.

Concerning the first point, Aph Ko gives powerful accounts of white land owners who would (literally) consume the bodies of black slaves, tan black skin into leather, eroticise and rape blac
...more
Courtney Kruzan
Apr 20, 2021 rated it it was amazing
I want to read everything Aph Ko ever writes. This short, easy, and enjoyable piece of theory just shifted my whole paradigm.

Truly everything I want. Some critical media studies to explain the colonial project of the human-animal binary *chefs kiss*, AND Multidimensional Liberation theory, I am BIG thirsty to know even more about it.
Marley
Oct 20, 2021 rated it really liked it
This book poses questions to the mainstream discourse of both the animal liberation and black liberation movements and explores the multiple dimensions of white supremacy. Ahh Kho explores how we can address white supremacy from its many roots and truly reach collective liberation.
Graham Knight
I read this book looking for new approaches after realising the separatism proposed by groups such as Anonymous for the Voiceless were not a way forward. This was obvious after their appalling responses to the Black Lives Matter movement.

In this book the author is looking for a new approach to politics, specifically outside of the “colonised” anti-racist and animal liberation movements and the limitations of intersectionality. She proposes seeing oppressions as symptoms of a larger system which
...more
Heidi
Apr 03, 2020 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: favorites
In Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out, author Aph Ko describes the consumption and disposal of non-white bodies as a ritual necessary for the continuation of white supremacy. If this assertion makes you feel something, anything—confusion, excitement, discomfort—you owe it to yourself to read this book immediately.

This book is not a plea to white people to address their racism, nor does it argue for its readers to become vegan. Rather, it examines the Euro-centricity at the h
...more
James
Sep 07, 2021 rated it it was ok
While I agree with the author that there is overlap between white supremacy and the abuses of both people and animals alike, I disagree with the author’s suggestion that it’s largely the source of both. Along with discounting the current animal rights/veganist movements, the author also discounts the feminist movement suggesting black men can’t be part of the patriarchy but if they happen to be seen that way, it’s due to western white supremacy as well. She contends that any other view is a lazy ...more
Prince Hazel
Aug 30, 2020 rated it really liked it
This book changed my outlook on tons of structures of power, the framing of animality and Black people, relations to power, and how to view compounded marginalized identities in individuals outside of intersectionality and its shortcomings (speaking of which wow this book really tore into intersectionality in a way that I just didn't know was coming.)

Where it lost me though is how to navigate with this new outlook in regards to subgroups within marginalized communities/identities, and how to ta
...more
Mian Osumi
Apr 29, 2021 rated it it was amazing
Even as this book seeks to de-center vegans and the animal rights movement in tackling animal rights, I hope this becomes a classic in those spaces! We shouldn't just be reading animal rights books by old British men T_T I most enjoyed chapter two on "white supremacy as zoological witchcraft"--it was so refreshing to see a new perspective on how the historic animalization of Black people connects to animal rights, how it's a hierarchy that must be dismantled at the root, as a framework itself, r ...more
Courtney
Oct 22, 2020 rated it really liked it
All I knew going in was that this book would "connect" animal rights and anti-racism. Although I unfortunately think this book will mostly only be picked up by those already concerned with one or (more likely, both) of these topics, Aph Ko provides interesting proposals that I found useful beyond these movements. For example, I particularly enjoyed her critique of intersectionality. I hope that more readers do find this work, particularly as its diagrams and references (mainly to Get Out, but al ...more
Sarah
Sep 08, 2021 rated it it was amazing
Ko offers an alternative framework for thinking about the multiple dimensions of oppression rather than the “intersectional” approach that has become widely popular, and explains her reasoning for why the latter approach in our movements is inadequate to achieving the kind of future we envision.

This is a quick read, and while it left me wanting more, this is a good thing and the references provided are a good jumping off point to continue my inquiry into these topics.

I’ve literally been thinki
...more
Sada
Dec 15, 2020 rated it really liked it
Loved this book! It described some pretty complex theories in accessible language and even did so in a short amount of time (125 pages). I consider myself to be active in anti-racist and animal liberation movements as well as other anti-oppression movements, but many connections were made in this book that I had never considered before. Because it is so theory based, I’m not quite sure what to do with this knowledge. Aph Ko explains that this is a book about theory and never claims to make pract ...more
Ayoola
Apr 02, 2020 rated it really liked it
This is the first book I’ve read by Aph Ko. Moving through this was a fantastic journey. I enjoyed Ko’s media analysis and her willingness to break from traditional ideas of how to do activism. I definitely want to learn more about Afro-zoological resistance.

There were a few points that were not as strong, either because of not being fleshed out or because of being somewhat inaccurate. For example, I didn’t quite understand Ko’s assertion that speciesism is a Eurocentric/colonial framework. I wi
...more
Aurély
May 27, 2020 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Amazing!

I absolutely recommend this book to anybody seeking to grasp a better understanding of white supremacy and the ways in which it affects us directly and indirectly in our everyday lives. This books highlights so many concepts and ideas about colonialism that are just so obvious once you've read them, but nearly invisible beforehand. This book is really one of the most powerful tools to begin decolonizing your brain, the first step to dismantling white supremacy
...more
Carrie Mills
What a remarkable book. I learned about it through the latest issue of VegNews when one of the senior editors signal boosted it in the media section.

The theories that Ko discusses are rich for analysis and discussion. The central call to action is centered on afro-zoological resistance as a means of liberation for both people and animals. By dissecting popular media, particularly Get Out (2017), Ko pulls imagery to the forefront to illustrate her arguments of how anti-Black and anti-animal cons
...more
Alexxa
Jul 22, 2020 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
This is a really fascinating read and perspective that’s important for any/all activists, not just those who identify as vegan, to read. It’s relatively short, but does read like a thesis, so it’s not what I’d call an easy or casual read by any means. That said, due to its length, it is one of the less intense anti-racism works out there that I’ve read.
M
A fascinating and very accessible reading on the multiple dimensions of racism and animality, as explained through media studies focused on the film Get Out. Definitely recommended reading for anyone interested in having a fresh understanding of how oppressions work together and how to re-think liberation movements.
Nandini
Apr 10, 2020 rated it it was amazing
I’ve never read theory like this! Really challenges many of the preconceived notions I had before. Loved that it was written in an accessible way that does not shame, but invites readers into going on this journey of questioning.
Frances Chrzan
Jul 26, 2021 rated it it was amazing
This is a must read for all white folks in the animal rights movement. Highly recommend. This is one I’ll need to re-read to fully grasp. So glad I have a truly enlightening resource to be a better activist.
Serena
So interesting!
Bernadette
Aug 23, 2020 rated it it was amazing
Excellent exploration and analysis of multidimensional nature of oppressive systems enacted and maintained by white supremacy, and what can be done to dismantle the systems.
NormaCenva
Great book by an amazing and innovative Author. Super important and worth wile read!
Dayna-Lee
Jun 28, 2021 rated it really liked it
great theoretical framework
Véronique McNealis
To read and to re read ! Thanks to a friend I discovered this wonderful philosophy essay which contains the two things I love the most in the world : film analysis and sociology. As I re-watched the brillant horror movie Jennifer’s body, in the beginning of the spooky season, I feel like writing an essay on Sexism as zoological witchcraft after watching this film as a compelling scene shows a white woman getting revenge on a white man after she was brutally murdered by a boy’s club (a boy band) ...more
Christiona
May 26, 2021 rated it really liked it
Aph Ko does very well in explaining the connection between the anti-racist and animal rights movements. I love how she uses popular media such as the film "Get Out" and the dating show "The Bachelor," which made these complex theories understandable, thus, more accessible. It got a little messy in the middle, where she didn't clearly explain some of the connections. Also, intersectionality, as conceptualized by Kimberlé Crenshaw, was multidimensional. This was a refreshing perspective, and I hop ...more
Sarah
Feb 03, 2021 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
I don’t know if I agree with everything this book has to say, but it’s given me an entirely different perspective to think about as a vegan and maybe that’s the point. Still mentally chewing on this so not ready for a full review...
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Aph Ko is an American writer, vegan activist, and digital media producer. She is the author of Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out, co-author of Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters, and creator of the website Black Vegans Rock.

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Some of the best stories take a few hundred years to tell. But if you're in the mood for uncanny connections, hoping back and forth through...
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“We keep referring to white supremacy as just a ''system'' or ''institution'', rather than a living, insidious, expansive colonial force that works to ''get inside'', consume and destroy.” 3 likes
“veganism isn't just about kicking a meat-eating habit and getting some veggies into your diet. It's a powerful rejection of a racist food system and a racist, cannibalistic politics that characterizes animals and nonwhite people as disposable and consumable.” 2 likes
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