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Tongue-Tied: Breaking the Language Barrier to Animal Liberation By Hạnh Nguyên

Publisher: Lantern Media & Publishing

Tongue-Tied: Breaking the Language Barrier to Animal Liberation By Hạnh Nguyên
Available from Lantern Publishing & Media
Paperback ISBN 978-1-59056-594-0
eBook ISBN 978-1-59056-595-7

REVIEWS

“The animal rights movement has come under regular criticism for being ‘Eurocentric’ and failing to adequately attend to cultural differences. Nguyen provides insights for moving beyond this, often unwitting, chauvinism. From her distinct multi-linguistic experiences growing up in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, Nguyen insightfully explores the way language works to continually marginalize other-than-human animals. She calls for critical engagement with the words we use to refer to ourselves and other animals in our work to achieve both linguistic and embodied justice.”
~ Lori Gruen, author, Entangled Empathy

This is a remarkably assured debut from a young writer who has enormous promise. It's a well-conceived and thoughtful analysis of how we use language, particularly in describing or coopting or (de)limiting other-than-human animals. Hanh's grasp of the suppleness of language is astonishing, especially as English is not her first language, and her insights gather depth as the book progresses. A worthy successor to Joan Dunayer's ANIMAL EQUALITY, TONGUE-TIED is an excellent introduction to how language shapes and distorts our perceptions.
~ Martin Rowe, Cuture & Animals Foundation

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hanh Nguyen holds a BA in Sociology from Yale University. Her journey in rethinking human–other animal relationships began when she was an undergraduate, and has since taken her to dozens of colleges and universities across North America, helping thousands of students examine their own perceptions of other-than-human animals.

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