Marti Kheel

Marti Kheel
Born (1948-08-25)August 25, 1948
New York City
Died November 19, 2011(2011-11-19) (aged 63)
Greenwich, CT
Cause of death Acute myeloid leukemia
Nationality American
Occupation Scholar
Academic background
Education University of Wisconsin
Alma mater McGill University
Academic work
Notable works Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective

Marti Kheel (August 25, 1948 – November 19, 2011) was a vegan ecofeminist activist scholar credited with founding Feminists for Animal Rights (FAR) in California in 1982. She authored several books in deep ecology and ecofeminism, including Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective,[1] and several widely cited articles in college courses and related scholarship, such as "The Liberation of Nature: A Circular Affair", "From Heroic to Holistic Ethics: The Ecofeminist Challenge", and "From Healing Herbs to Deadly Drugs: Western Medicine's War Against the Natural World". She was a long-time vegan in diet, lifestyle, and philosophical commitments, working out her understanding of its implications in every area of our human relationships with nature and its constituents, and she found a wide audience for those deep reflections. Reportedly, she had pursued a raw vegan diet later in her life.[2] Her pioneering scholarship in ecofeminist ethics is foundational for continuing work in these fields.[3]

Early life

Dr. Marti Kheel was one of six children (five daughters: Ellen Kheel Jacobs of Manhattan; Constance E. Kheel of Buskirk, N.Y.; Dr. Marti Kheel, then of El Cerrito, California; Jane Kheel Stanley of Bethesda, Maryland; and Katherine Kheel of Baltimore, Maryland; a son, Robert J. Kheel, of Manhattan) born to Labor Mediator Theodore W. Kheel (who passed in November 2010), and journalist and civic leader Ann Sunstein Kheel, who passed[4][5] in 2003.[6]

She was born in New York City on August 25, 1948. She is described as being "drawn to other–than–human animals." She related on her website how, around 1960, when she was twelve years old, she first protested on behalf of animals when she refused to be photographed in a family photograph without her beloved cat, Booty–tat. She became vegetarian in 1973 (age 25) through a developing awareness occasioned, by a series of troubling experiences in restaurants and grocery stores, in which she became increasingly aware of the living beings who were defined as "meat" and killed for that interpretation. Four years later, she joined the grass–roots Animal Liberation Collective while living in Montreal, and explored a wide spectrum of animal abuse issues. She became a vegan as she progressively grew more aware of the horrific treatment of nonhumans on farms and in human society's systematic oppression of nonhuman persons.

She co–founded Feminists for Animal Rights (FAR) in California in 1982, to which she had relocated, hoping to bridge women's and animal advocacy movements. That same year, she developed a slideshow paralleling how women and other–than–human animals are viewed under hierarchical domination characteristic of 'patriarchal' society. Under the auspices of FAR, which she cofounded, the presentation has since been shown throughout the United States and abroad. Over the years, FAR grew into a national organization with regional offices throughout and beyond the United States with a message of 'shared oppression' that continues to inspire, although FAR is not currently active.[7]

Education

Most recently she was a visiting scholar in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley.[8]

Publications

BOOK

Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. ISBN 0-7425-5201-2.

Outline, Excerpts, and Reviews of Nature Ethics:

CHAPTERS IN OTHER BOOKS

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Lecture appearances

About the talk: What does it mean to have a dialogue about eating animals while ignoring the voices of the animals whose bodies are under discussion? Drawing on feminist notions of epistemic responsibility, I examine what obligations humans have to understand and respond to the communications of other animals, including those raised for food. Using the ecofeminist insight that domination of external nature is connected to domination of internal nature, I explore the internal dialogues surrounding suppression of emotional connection to animals. Drawing on the feminist care tradition, I present veganism as an embodied response to the communications of other animals.

Other panelists included Chris Diehm, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Chaone Mallory, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Villanova University; Adrian Parr, Visiting Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati; Jason Kawall (panel chair), Department of Philosophy, Colgate University.

Death

Marti Kheel died of acute myeloid leukemia at 63 years of age on November 19, 2011, in Greenwich, CT.[9] She was widely memorialized on the Internet, including numerous professional, topical, scholarly, and general e-mail discussion lists.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective (Studies in Social, Political, & Legal Philosophy)
  2. ↑ Personal sources
  3. ↑ Biography of Marti Kheel
  4. ↑ NY Times obituary
  5. ↑ Cornell University tribute to Mrs. Kheel
  6. ↑ 2010 NY Times Obituary for Theodore W. Kheel
  7. ↑ Biography of Marti Kheel, August 25, 1948 – November 19, 2011
  8. ↑ Marti Kheel's LinkedIn profile
  9. ↑ Obituary in San Francisco Chronicle
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