Food Ethics in the Work of Astrid Cabral

Abstract

In this chapter, I examine how the work of Amazonian author Astrid Cabral gives voice to animals and plants from this region. I read Cabral’s body of work as an example of eco-centered literature in dialogue with local cosmologies that consider animals and plants entities capable of social and even political agency. Cabral’s work illustrates some of the key tenets of posthumanism by showing that nonhuman beings have their own perspective on the world that is as valid as the ones espoused by us humans. By foregrounding animal and plant perspectives, Cabral’s texts can also be read as a rejoinder to anthropological studies on Amerindian perspectivism (Viveiros de Castro; Descola), allowing for a dialogue between humanist and social scientific approaches to Amazonian cultural production.