Wholesale Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature

This book draws parallels from the author Vanessa Chakour’s life struggles to those of twenty-three wild animals from exploring our emotions and life journeys to our human need to belong. Examining the cultural belief that our animal instincts need correction, the author explores our inner and outer landscapes through the lens of wild animals. As the author makes a case for, humans often cut ourselves off from identifying with wild animals due to fear, ignorance, disgust, or misunderstanding, yet our human bodies can lead us in pursuit of pleasure, love, wonder, healing, and connection. Each section of the book meditates on an animal’s return home to its natural habitat, raising questions about our humanity. By learning from this journey, we can embrace our animal nature for deeper self-actualization, find common ground with animals, and thrive together. (This book contains a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge.)