Shedding Light on Blind Spots: Application of the Domesticated Animal Citizens Model on Agroecology–an Ethical Discussion

Abstract Agroecology presents itself as a transformative alternative to industrial agriculture, grounded in principles of justice, participation, and the dismantling of structural inequalities. Yet despite the centrality of domesticated animals within agroecosystems, agroecology lacks a coherent ethical account of human–animal relations. Animal production is commonly justified through ecological usefulness, leaving unexamined the moral assumptions that underlie their integration into farming systems. This paper argues that the concept of domesticated animal citizens, developed by Donaldson and Kymlicka (2011), offers a compelling political-theoretical framework for illuminating these blind spots. The citizenship model challenges moral hierarchy, reframes domestication as a source of ongoing moral responsibility, and articulates animals’ capacity for dependent agency in shared political communities. Applying this framework to agroecology exposes conceptual tensions between agroecology’s normative commitments and its lack of concern for domesticated animals. We argue that by relying on an anthropocentric moral hierarchy, agroecology reproduces the very structures of inequality it seeks to eliminate and thereby weakens its own credibility. The paper concludes that integrating the model of domesticated animal citizens strengthens agroecology’s ethical foundations by expanding its commitment to justice beyond species borders.