Disgust as Embodied Critique: Being Middle Class and Muslim in Mumbai

Distancing animal death: Geographies of killing and making killable

“…Affective labour is crucial to a sacrificial connection; in fact, those performing the temple goat sacrifices believed that it was necessary to have this attachment with the animal in order for the sacrifice to be acceptable to their deities (Govindrajan, 2018). This is echoed in Tayob's (2019) ethnographic study of Qurbani (a Muslim festival of ritual sacrifice) in Mumbai, India, where actively forming relationships with sacrificial animals was perceived as exemplary ritual practice, and it was not uncommon for wealthier individuals to raise a goat for months and even years before slaughtering it. This complex sacrificer/sacrificed relationship is also reflected in the sometimes contradictory nature of farmer/ livestock relations (Convery et al, 2005;Riley, 2011;Wilkie, 2005).…”

“…In a volume dedicated to 'nonkilling geographies' , Gillespie (2011, p. 158) challenges the notion of 'humane' slaughter in smaller-scale establishments by arguing that although it does result in a better experience for the animal until point of slaughter, it still 'fails to confront the violence of slaughter itself' . Tayob (2019Tayob ( , p. 1207 similarly argues that ethical observances of slaughter do not 'elide the violence of the act' . This links to discussions of whether animal death is intrinsically ethically problematic; influential arguments in animal welfare science posit that death is not a welfare issue if carried out painlessly (Webster, 1994), whilst others argue that it is problematic if it forecloses the opportunity for positive experiences (Yeates, 2010).…”

Theme issue introduction: The species turn in Indian identity politics

“…While the real violence that the bulls experience is precisely what makes bull racing a spectator entertainment, Sethi ( ibid ) goes on to abstract these harms as ‘symbolic’ as she writes, ‘The rite does not disavow violence, rather it embeds its symbolisation within familial and productive relations between people and bullocks’. In a similar vein, Shaheed Tayob (2019) rightly critiques the narratives of disgust that vulnerable Muslim butchers face from Hindu nationalists, thereby entrenching their marginalisation. In arguing however that ‘for Muslims in Mumbai, the cruelty of slaughter is not inherent’, Tayob (2019: 1192) disregards the real cruelties, terror and suffering that animals endure in every scale of slaughter, regardless of site and perpetrator (Narayanan 2023, Pachirat 2012).…”

“…In a similar vein, Shaheed Tayob (2019) rightly critiques the narratives of disgust that vulnerable Muslim butchers face from Hindu nationalists, thereby entrenching their marginalisation. In arguing however that ‘for Muslims in Mumbai, the cruelty of slaughter is not inherent’, Tayob (2019: 1192) disregards the real cruelties, terror and suffering that animals endure in every scale of slaughter, regardless of site and perpetrator (Narayanan 2023, Pachirat 2012).…”

“…A rigorous, critical politics of species identity requires that human action and response discard the paternalistic approach of merely considering animals that often continues to privilege human superiority (c.f. Sethi 2019, Tayob 2019). Instead, ‘humans need to reformulate political and social relations in interaction with [other animals] in order not to repeat anthropocentrism’ (Meijer 2019: 2).…”