Reading: Von Tieren und anderen Menschen (About Animals and Other People)

Activation

With Lea Schneider (writer)

The distinction between humans and animals is at the very core of modern thought. Children must learn this distinction in order to become part of the ‘rational’, adult world: humans think, animals do not; humans are persons, animals are not. However, recent findings in evolutionary and behavioural biology tell a different story. These findings resonate with what has long been known in Indigenous systems of knowledge: animals are subjects and active agents with individual life stories, shaping the world alongside us. How would things change if we took non-human beings seriously as persons? What radical changes and transformations would be necessary in our communities, societies and political systems? These are the questions addressed in Lea Schneider’s book Von Tieren und anderen Menschen. In 11 essays, she writes about non-human persons and animism, about men who judge animals and animals who couldn’t care less, about evolution and freedom, about so-called ‘problem animals’ and about dreams as a form of resistance.
In this reading, Lea Schneider will present her book and, with the audience, explore the question of how we can build new, more-than-human worlds amidst the ruins of the climate catastrophe.

Lea Schneider is an essayist, poet, translator and literary scholar. In her collections of poetry and essays, she explores radical vulnerability, Indigenous ontologies, ecofeminist theory and animal studies. She lives in Berlin and loves nothing more than picking yarrow in the Hasenheide park or chatting to the long-eared owls in the Anita-Berber-Park.

In connection with the current exhibitions, Zabriskie bookshop was invited to curate a selection of books that offer various perspectives on the subject of nature. This selection is complemented by two readings, also curated by Zabriskie.

Zabriskie is a specialised and curated bookstore with a focus on natural cultures, ecologies, eco-artistic practices, sound and listening, subcultures, visionary fiction and wild thinking. It offers publications in both English and German.

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