Unearthing the Time/Space/Matter of Multispecies Justice

Abstract:Multispecies justice is a developing field—or perhaps more accurately, a set of fields. It draws together a range of academic disciplines to examine human and nonhuman relationships. These include relationships of respect, responsibility, and, to some, reciprocity. The extent of those relationships and the range of species, forms, and being to be included, however, remains indistinct and variable. Whereas within traditional theories of justice concern for other beings remains tied to the desire to enhance human experience, life opportunities, goods, and virtues, the call to multispecies justice is motivated by the recognition that the nonhuman realm has intrinsic value and values. This article’s argument is that given the relative infancy of multispecies justice as a field of study in the Western academy, there is an opportunity to ensure that it examines not only how to avoid damaging domination of the nonhuman realm but also the ongoing colonial domination of Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies. The article does not suggest an appropriation of Indigenous knowledge but rather an exploration of ways in which the field may remain sufficiently nuanced and open to accommodate multiple epistemological and ontological framings of theory. Drawing from Mātauranga Māori the article discusses an aspect of that decolonial project—why the scope of multispecies justice needs to be open to all planetary being and all time.