Date of Award

8-2007

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. Angela Moe

Second Advisor

Dr. Ronald C. Kramer

Third Advisor

Dr. Susan Carlson

Keywords

victims of crimes, speciesism, feminism

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

This work is a critique of the anthropocentric and speciesist borders and boundaries of victimology. Essentially I challenge victimology for failing to incorporate the victimizations of non-human animals and the environment, and instead focusing narrowly on only specific forms of human victimization. I do this by examining the history of victimology and exploring how its boundaries became what they are today. Focusing on the role criminology has had in the general development of victimology. I then go on to juxtapose the limited presence of animals and the environment within criminology with their relative absence in victimology. In conjunction with this juxtaposition I place a call for the incorporation of non-human animal and environmental victimization within victimology. I provide multiple rationales for that incorporation throughout this work. I then use the proposed eco-critical criminological perspective to develop a proposal for an eco-critical ecofeminist victimological perspective. In order to do so, I explore eco-philosophical and ecofeminist theories, focusing on the ontological and epistemological issues in each, and conclude with a proposed theoretical perspective based in the ecocentric paradigm.

Download

Share

COinS