Rescuing Me, Rescuing You: Companion Animals and Domestic Violence

Goal: Rescuing Me, Rescuing You: Companion Animals and Domestic Violence

Nik Taylor and I have just been granted a book contract with Palgrave, London to write this book.

Overview
Rescuing me, rescuing you speaks to the mutual, loving connections that can be formed across species, and in households where there is domestic violence. It also speaks to the potentially soothing, healing and recovery oriented aspects of human-companion animal relationships before, during and after the violence. Viewing domestic violence through the imaginary eyes of companion animals offers the opportunity to understand this widespread and potentially fatal social problem in new and engaging ways. While we do not suggest that we can truly speak for or adequately represent the interests of all companion animals in violent domestic situations, we can place them and their interests under the spotlight of human inquiry. This is our intention: to centre the rights and interests of companion animals at risk of, experiencing and/or trying to recover from domestic violence. Judging by the interest in social media and scholarly literature on human-animal relations, we think we are not alone in this interest.

The appeal of animal related literature can be seen in the exponential growth of the interdisciplinary field of human-animal studies. Within this field there is a consistent focus on human and animal directed violence research. Research in this area has consistently shown the links between domestic violence, child abuse and companion animal abuse. What has been left under-investigated, reported and theorised are the positive relationships many women and children, in violent situations, share with their companion animals. While previous focus has been, quite rightly, on how to help human and animal survivors of domestic violence, what has not been carefully examined are the deep, caring relationships that can exist between human and animals, particularly those trying to survive domestic violence.

It is this niche that the current book fills by weaving stories of human and companion animal ‘rescue’ and redemption through a work that closely considers the dynamics of human-animal abuse links within domestic violence. Drawing on a range of data from numerous projects the authors have conducted with women, about their companion animals and about links between domestic violence and animal abuse, this book highlights the deep, personal connections between women and their animals. In these regards our proposed book is innovative and different.

Our book presents an in-depth consideration of the power, politics and philosophy inherent to multi-species relationships and violence. It does so through paying close attention to the stories and images of those affected by such violence. As a result the book will be accessible, compelling, and of interest to a broad market including academics in various disciplines, and those interested in domestic violence service provision, as well as members of the animal-loving general public.