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EcoPatriarchy: The Origins & Nature of Hunting
From hominin to Homo sapiens, the story of the human ape’s relationship with other species and Earth has been more tragic than not. From human origins, ever emerging brutal lifeways turned humans’ predators into prey, paving a blood path of conquest over the planet.
As the growing human brain honed inventiveness of the hunt, it too cultivated an intensified compassion. This palpable incongruence sparked a mind adaptation utilizing language to rationalize killing. Rationalizing through mythologies and rituals served as an evolutionary strategy to overcome anxiety in slaying other animals. ‘Man the Hunter’ entwined humans with other animals onto an apocalypse-bound course.
This thesis picks up from the 1990’s debate between Feminists for Animal Rights (FAR) and Deep Ecology. Through the lens of resistance anthropology observing wildness, the 'Man the Hunter’ narrative is reinterpreted as eco-patriarchy, a trap set in the roots of the origins of early humans’ adaptation into hunting.
As the growing human brain honed inventiveness of the hunt, it too cultivated an intensified compassion. This palpable incongruence sparked a mind adaptation utilizing language to rationalize killing. Rationalizing through mythologies and rituals served as an evolutionary strategy to overcome anxiety in slaying other animals. ‘Man the Hunter’ entwined humans with other animals onto an apocalypse-bound course.
This thesis picks up from the 1990’s debate between Feminists for Animal Rights (FAR) and Deep Ecology. Through the lens of resistance anthropology observing wildness, the 'Man the Hunter’ narrative is reinterpreted as eco-patriarchy, a trap set in the roots of the origins of early humans’ adaptation into hunting.
338 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 23, 2020
Eco-Patriarchy The Origins & Nature of Hunting addresses more than its title suggests. As Ria Montana states on page ix “Citations are rocks & remixed binding intuitive to reasoned substratum.” And citations are abundant and convincing. She shows how standard cultural assumptions about prehistoric hunters drive our current planet ruining and are wrong. The alternative, diets and cultures not based on animal cruelty, are presented with ample citations to back up her assertions. Rationalizations for life paths based on animal cruelty are exposed and the cognitive dissonance used to maintain these rationalizations are amped-up for any reader with an open mind. Ria Montana reminds us that we are born empathetic creatures. Additionally, it is a fine compendium of medical evidence that humans don’t require animal cruelty to thrive.
Origins is wonderfully illustrated to demonstrate to the reader both the traditional assumptions of our culture juxtaposing them with illustrations depicting scenes of alternative narratives. Narratives which may lie closer to the truth than we have been led to believe.
Between the numerous and authoritative citations, Ria Montana brings her own soul to her work. Soul born out through a lifetime of living what she believes. The sum is greater than the parts. Both scholarly and literary. We are led to challenge ourselves, and in the end, better off for it.
Origins is wonderfully illustrated to demonstrate to the reader both the traditional assumptions of our culture juxtaposing them with illustrations depicting scenes of alternative narratives. Narratives which may lie closer to the truth than we have been led to believe.
Between the numerous and authoritative citations, Ria Montana brings her own soul to her work. Soul born out through a lifetime of living what she believes. The sum is greater than the parts. Both scholarly and literary. We are led to challenge ourselves, and in the end, better off for it.
February 23, 2020
It’s a look at deep human nature that shows how we modernized with violence, and how a wild compassionate way of our species living with others is possible and necessary. My mind is blown. Can’t believe it took this long for me to take easy but necessary steps toward wild life for myself and wild others. I'm following up with some of the numerous sources to rewild myself and Earth. There's no other anti-hunting book like this. If you're ready to exit ecocide, this book can change your life.
March 23, 2020
Ria Del Montana's ECO PATRIARCHY is a chronicle of Homo sapiens' quest to define ourselves through conquest of the rest of Earth's living communities (and each other). Inevitably, such a chronicle presses for some kind of idea of who we'd be without our mastership – an intriguing, thorny, morally important and eternal question. It also includes a treasure trove of illustrations. Themes: Anthropology, eco-feminism, rewilding ethics, anarcho-primitivism, personal correspondence.
November 28, 2021
This book has a lot of interesting ideas, and it is certainly well-researched but the multiple, distracting grammatical errors and overall lack of organization made it a kind of a chore to read.
January 24, 2023
"Anarcho-primitivism does not necessitate hunting." p 29
With these seemingly simple words, Ria reveals a major cognitive dissonance among what are supposed to be some of the leading voices of anarcho-primitivism. The religious-like dogma of "man the hunter" that has persisted despite archaeological bias and obvious hypocrisy of reasoning becomes Ria's target in this poignant thesis.
Although cognitive dissonance isn't mentioned in EcoPatriarchy: The Origins & Nature of Hunting, perhaps it should be as it seems especially on point. The American Heritage College Dictionary defines cognitive dissonance as "[a] condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between belief and action, such as opposing animal slaughter and eating meat."
In EcoPatriarchy, Ria begins explaining where the divide between belief and action exists. With so many anarcho-primitivism theorists and advocates promoting hunting as though it is of vital essence, and many using the distorted image of prehistoric and ancient peoples being primarily 'hunter-gatherers', Ria does a deep dive into the archaeological archives and deconstructs the mythos of 'man the hunter.'
While the book is far from light reading commentary, and some general background knowledge of anarchoprimitivism and rewilding will be required to fully understand the concepts explored in this book, the strength of Ria's argument will come across as clear as though a seasoned prosecutor were at work in front of a lay jury. Attacking not the archaeological evidence itself, but the biased analysis of it by a field of study that holds 'man the hunter' to be sacrosanct is a winning strategy.
While much can be said in regards to the obvious hypocrisy of 'opposing animal slaughter and eating meat,' t is too often the reliance on what has been deemed 'archaeological evidence' of hunter-gatherer societies offered by meet-eating anarcho-primitivists as imprimatur of sorts to espouse lazy excuses and cliché Native American animist sentiments.
There are times in the book when ideas flow to text seemingly so quickly that proper grammatical elements become casualties, and future editions should be properly indexed to help readers keep track of the myriad ideas and elements that compose this thesis. The book is imperfect in minor elements of transition between ideas, and perhaps a future edition will be expanded to offer more background information into some of the more obscure theories which are floated without explanatory context.
However, overall, what this book does for the vegan anarcho-primitivist is to serve as the indispensable playbook for countering the cognitive dissonance of meat-eating anarcho-primitivists. It's a no-holds-barred thesis that grabs the tiger by the tail, and then punches him in the mouth.
7 out of 10
With these seemingly simple words, Ria reveals a major cognitive dissonance among what are supposed to be some of the leading voices of anarcho-primitivism. The religious-like dogma of "man the hunter" that has persisted despite archaeological bias and obvious hypocrisy of reasoning becomes Ria's target in this poignant thesis.
Although cognitive dissonance isn't mentioned in EcoPatriarchy: The Origins & Nature of Hunting, perhaps it should be as it seems especially on point. The American Heritage College Dictionary defines cognitive dissonance as "[a] condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between belief and action, such as opposing animal slaughter and eating meat."
In EcoPatriarchy, Ria begins explaining where the divide between belief and action exists. With so many anarcho-primitivism theorists and advocates promoting hunting as though it is of vital essence, and many using the distorted image of prehistoric and ancient peoples being primarily 'hunter-gatherers', Ria does a deep dive into the archaeological archives and deconstructs the mythos of 'man the hunter.'
While the book is far from light reading commentary, and some general background knowledge of anarchoprimitivism and rewilding will be required to fully understand the concepts explored in this book, the strength of Ria's argument will come across as clear as though a seasoned prosecutor were at work in front of a lay jury. Attacking not the archaeological evidence itself, but the biased analysis of it by a field of study that holds 'man the hunter' to be sacrosanct is a winning strategy.
While much can be said in regards to the obvious hypocrisy of 'opposing animal slaughter and eating meat,' t is too often the reliance on what has been deemed 'archaeological evidence' of hunter-gatherer societies offered by meet-eating anarcho-primitivists as imprimatur of sorts to espouse lazy excuses and cliché Native American animist sentiments.
There are times in the book when ideas flow to text seemingly so quickly that proper grammatical elements become casualties, and future editions should be properly indexed to help readers keep track of the myriad ideas and elements that compose this thesis. The book is imperfect in minor elements of transition between ideas, and perhaps a future edition will be expanded to offer more background information into some of the more obscure theories which are floated without explanatory context.
However, overall, what this book does for the vegan anarcho-primitivist is to serve as the indispensable playbook for countering the cognitive dissonance of meat-eating anarcho-primitivists. It's a no-holds-barred thesis that grabs the tiger by the tail, and then punches him in the mouth.
7 out of 10
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews