Though often overlooked, the category of animal is also crucial to understanding this history and the frameworks that define us. Who is human versus nonhuman may seem clear-cut and uncomplicated today, but as we know all too well, at different points in time various human populations have been identified as bestial, more animal than human, or as missing links of evolution—classifications that were inextricably entangled with definitions of inferiority, savagery, sexuality, dependency, ability/disability, physical and mental difference, and so forth.
