Human Animal Studies31 Sacred, Symbolic, and Contested

This book offers a critical cross-cultural analysis of how animals are symbolized, ritualized, and contested, revealing the complex ethical, religious, and sociopolitical dimensions of human-animal relationships across diverse cultural, legal, and consumptive domains. Sacred, Symbolic, and Contested explores how animals are revered, represented, and disputed across global cultures. Through vivid case studies—from sacred cows in India to ritual slaughter in Judaism and animal commodification in industrial societies—this book reveals how human-animal relationships express deep ethical, religious, and political tensions. You’ll encounter surprising contradictions: animals celebrated in myth yet mistreated in practice or protected in law yet consumed in daily life. Drawing on sociology, religious studies, and critical animal studies, this timely work invites you to rethink the role of animals in shaping human identity, culture, and moral responsibility.