{"product_id":"how-not-to-make-a-karl-steel-9781517905279","title":"How Not to Make a Human: Pets, Feral Children, Worms, Sky Burial, Oysters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom pet keeping to sky burials, a posthuman and ecocritical interrogation of and challenge to human particularity in medieval texts\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Mainstream medieval thought, like much of mainstream modern thought, habitually argued that because humans alone had language, reason, and immortal souls, all other life was simply theirs for the taking. But outside this scholarly consensus teemed a host of other ways to imagine the shared worlds of humans and nonhumans. \u003ci\u003eHow Not to Make a Human\u003c\/i\u003e engages with these nonsystematic practices and thought to challenge both human particularity and the notion that agency, free will, and rationality are the defining characteristics of being human.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecuperating the Middle Ages as a lost opportunity for decentering humanity, Karl Steel provides a posthuman and ecocritical interrogation of a wide range of medieval texts. Exploring such diverse topics as medieval pet keeping, stories of feral and isolated children, the ecological implications of funeral practices, and the \"bare life\" of oysters from a variety of disanthropic perspectives, Steel furnishes contemporary posthumanists with overlooked cultural models to challenge human and other supremacies at their roots. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy collecting beliefs and practices outside the mainstream of medieval thought, \u003ci\u003eHow Not to Make a Human\u003c\/i\u003e connects contemporary concerns with ecology, animal life, and rethinkings of what it means to be human to uncanny materials that emphasize matters of death, violence, edibility, and vulnerability. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Karl Steel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1517905273\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781517905279\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/24\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 280\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.88lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2020","brand":"Karl Steel","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44079132344575,"sku":"9781517905279","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_44bbf5ea-638d-434e-b9d8-61381326d8fd.jpg?v=1685479481","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/how-not-to-make-a-karl-steel-9781517905279","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}