Abstract

In this article, I explore whether domesticated animals (DAs) of different species belonging to the same community participate in authoring and sustaining, what I call, the fabric of zoodemocracy. The fabric refers to a set of activities, social norms, and values that together sustain our democracies (e.g. cooperation, protest, and helping one’s neighbour). I explore this by situating my intervention within systemic theories of democracy and the political turn in animal rights theory. Specifically, I situate my work within Donaldson and Kymlicka’s zoopolitical project, arguing that animals are owed rights to participation in decision-making as community members. Some, however, challenge the idea that DAs can actually sustain democratic communities because they do not have, for example, the rational capacities to control themselves. Others suggest that there are conceptual and normative problems with the concept of co-authorship advanced by Donaldson and Kymlicka. This article addresses these debates by (1) identifying some of the key elements needed to sustain the fabric of democratic communities; and (2) empirically testing whether DAs have the necessary capacities to sustain such communities. I do this by analysing the data I collected while conducting a multispecies ethnography at VINE sanctuary, Springfield, Vermont, US, for 8 weeks.*