Terror from the stare : visual landscapes of meat production

Abstract

In his latest book, Terror from the Air, the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk investigates how air, as a fundamental life-sustaining element, has been given a pivotal role in post-war forms of terrorism, genocide, and chemical warfare. Here, I re-phrase Sloterdijk's book title to address not acts of breathing, but acts of viewing. My purpose is to discuss how different modalities and manipulations of visual perception (both human and animal) are implicated in routines of physical violence toward animals - more specifically, in the process of their becoming-meat.