Introduction

Abstract Narratives form one dimension of the institutional ecology that shapes what can happen for different types of beings, the modes of relationships available to them, and the possibilities of their lives. This introduction considers the limitations and possibilities that narrative poses for multispecies justice. It sets out four ways in which narrative strategies impede multispecies justice, by (1) presenting (certain) humans as the sole subjects of justice; (2) naturalizing the association between putatively exclusive human capacities and being a subject of justice; (3) normalizing the background conditions that produce humans as the privileged subjects of justice; and (4) positioning humans as the sole agents capable of producing story. It then considers three ways that narrative might help theorize and develop multispecies justice, by (1) imagining, depicting, and evoking the lives of more-than-human others; (2) recognizing storytelling itself as a more-than-human practice; and (3) elaborating the narrative form as a multispecies practice unfolding through more-than-human relationships.