The Silence of the Lambs : 'De-Animalizing' Silence and Interrogating the Human/Animal Binary

Political theorists have relied much upon two quite consequential sets of related binaries. First, speech and silence have been constituted as, for political purposes, antithetical phenomena; speech treated as a vehicle for political engagement and action, and silence relegated to apolitical realms and beings. Second, humans and animals have been constructed as distinct beings, envisioned as having different qualities and capabilities to such a degree that only humans have been considered capable of citizenship. Also, only some 'humans' have been articulated as capable of full citizenship, leaving others in positions comparable to that of animals. This paper challenges both of these binaries, especially calling attention to the communicative promises of silence. I seek to illuminate that, what many might deem the silent existences of a variety of 'animals' does not, should not, leave such beings unworthy of our attention and inclusion in relation to political struggles and the rights that accompany citizenship. This project challenges the idea that speech should be the only and primary means through which we engage politics. Also, by 'dehumanizing' in the sense of de-centering the privileged status of speech as that which allows for the 'human' capacity of reason, and by 'de-animalizing' silence in the sense of centering that which had been deemed unworthy of 'human' engagement, I interrogate the human/animal binary as such