Research Expertise and Interest

disability studies, disability crip theory, ableism, animal studies, animal ethics, multispecies justice, environmental humanities, ecofeminism, environmental justice

Research Description

Sunaura Taylor is an assistant professor in the Division of Society and Environment. Taylor is a scholar and artist who works at the intersection of disability studies, environmental humanities, animal studies, environmental justice, and art practice. Her research situates disability and ableism as central forces shaping human relationships to the more-than-human world. Concerned with relationships between altered bodily capacity, vulnerability, and systems of exploitation across species and ecological boundaries,  her works crosses a range of disciplines, mediums, and audiences.

Taylor is author of Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert (UC Press, 2024), and Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation (The New Press, 2017), which received the 2018 American Book Award. Along with academic journals, Taylor has written for a range of popular media outlets. Her artworks have been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and are part of the Berkeley Art Museum collection. Among other awards, she has received a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, two Wynn Newhouse Awards, and an Animals and Culture Grant.