Institutionalizing Harm in Tennessee: The Right of the People to Hunt and Fish

Authors

Lois Presser, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Jennifer L. Schally, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Keywords

Harm, hunting, fishing, legislation, dehumanization

Abstract

What discourses render harm to nonhumans a right? In this article we consider the case of Tennessee's Senate Joint Resolution 30, which proposed to grant citizens "the personal right to hunt and fish." To clarify the institutional logics legitimizing such harm, we analyzed the text of the Resolution as well as statements by politicians and others leading up to the passage of the amendment the Resolution would enact. Logics that supported the Resolution were: (1) claims of the economic utility of hunting and fishing; (2) veneration of the past; and (3) claims of future infringement on said activities. Nonhuman targets of harm go unmentioned in these legitimizing discourses.

Recommended Citation

Presser, Lois and Schally, Jennifer L. (2013) "Institutionalizing Harm in Tennessee: The Right of the People to Hunt and Fish," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 40: Iss. 4, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.3766
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol40/iss4/10