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Part of
Translating Asymmetry – Rewriting Power
Edited by Ovidi Carbonell i Cortés and Esther Monzó-Nebot
[Benjamins Translation Library 157] 2021
► pp. 35–54

Chapter 2
Negotiating asymmetry

The language of animal rights and animal welfare

ORCID logo | University of Manchester

Growing public concern about animal welfare, notably in the context of widespread industry-led exploitation of animals and abusive breeding and slaughtering practices, is increasingly politicised and the shift of focus from the concept of animal welfare to that of animal rights, from compassion to ethics, is framed in an increasingly vocal political discourse. Described as “the fastest social movement” (Gaarder 2011), animal activism has achieved a global dimension where translation plays a significant albeit under-researched role in constructing and disseminating a discourse of animal welfare and contributing to “the social construction of animals” (Stibbe 2001). Drawing on Schicktanz’s (2006) discussion of asymmetry and ambivalence in the context of the human-animal relationship, the paper will explore how, with a backdrop of greater convergence between philosophical and scientific perspectives, concepts such as sentience, welfare and rights are evolving with reference to non-human animals. Examples will be drawn from European and international institutions’ material and from activist organisations.

Keywords: animal rights, animal welfare, asymmetry, translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Articulating the human/non-human animal relationship
  • 3.Politics and the discourse on animal welfare and animal rights
  • 4.Welfare, sentience and rights – cross-linguistic and cross-cultural issues
    • 4.1Animal sentience
    • 4.2Animal rights
  • 5.Translation as engagement, translators as activists
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.157.02sal
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