The Politics of Predation: An Ecological Framework

In the animal world, nearly every organism is either predator or prey. This project brings predation into the human realm, introducing predatory conduct as a pervasive, yet unrecognized part of international politics with profound effects. Proposing politics of predation as a new way to study strategic violence (violent acts aimed at gaining power and resources), the project answers to a need for new ways to describe and understand the increasingly porous and diffuse landscapes of contemporary violence, where factors such as war, conflict, state violence, and lethal force are increasingly hard to pin down. The project will combine a broad focus on human ecologies of predation with specific examinations of how elements such as poison, technology, race, and gender characterize different predator-prey interactions. The goal of the project is to develop a framework that can help formulate new, progressive politics aimed at equality.