This is an immensely important book for anybody concerned with capitalist natures and traffics in the nonhuman. Combining scrupulous fieldwork with stunning theorizations of 'lively capital', Collard adapts Marxist and feminist thought to the double task of analyzing and contesting a global trade in exotic pets. By following how wild-caught species get made into thinglike forms of capital, this book spurs a profound rethinking of commodified and noncommodified life, fetishism, enclosure, and social-ecological reproduction. -- Nicole Shukin, author of * Animal Capital: Rendering Life in Biopolitical Times *
Animal Traffic brings the spaces and circuits of the exotic pet trade to life, casting light on an important aspect of defaunation in the tropics and an underappreciated way that animals are being commodified. Rosemary-Claire Collard presents rich ethnographic accounts of key sites of the exotic pet trade and weaves these together with a compelling discussion of the values, practices, and complications involved in reducing wild animals to 'lively capital' as well as the great barriers to decommodifying animals after their lives have been wrested from them. This is a moving and beautifully written book and a major contribution to the fields of critical animal studies, political ecology, and biodiversity conservation. -- Tony Weis, author of * The Ecological Hoofprint: The Global Burden of Industrial Livestock *
Animal Traffic is a unique contribution to the existing robust studies about the legal and illegal wildlife trade. The uniqueness stems from Collard's theoretical framework as well as her fieldwork.
-- Tanya Wyatt * Oryx *
There are so many things to say and think about in relation to this book, which is a testament to the richness of Collard's research and the brilliance of her analysis.... We are left ... with a call to action to radically transform not only our theories but also our relationships with animals under and outside of capitalism.... -- Kathryn Gillespie * Antipode *
[Animal Traffic] is a timely book that poses provocative questions for conservation practice and regulation, while also proposing intermediate strategies and contributing empirical and conceptual resources. It will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and students in social sciences and conservation. -- Sophie Haines * Conservation and Society *
In bringing together an analysis of the capitalist commodity chain of the exotic pet trade through her concept of animal fetishism, [Collard] builds bridges between economists and animal studies researchers and opens plenty of doors for future work in both areas. . . . I believe this book will be an essential read for all human-animal and commodity researchers from this point forward. -- Julie Urbanik * AAG Review of Books *
[Animal Traffic] will inspire reflection and questions. Importantly, in a very moving way, Collard brings into the light and theorizes well an entire world of suffering that is laden with human callousness, money, and violence-a world of which many have been for too long unaware. -- Connie L. Johnston * Geographical Review *
Although Collard deals in complex theory, she writes with a clarity and sensitivity that is accessible to readers across disciplines . . . including Marxist theory, human geography, feminist political economy, and animal studies. -- Rachel Matthews * Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy *
