The relationship between human and animal represents one of the great debates of the contemporary moment. With the young research field of human-animal studies, cultural studies and the social sciences are making a valuable contribution to this question of the age, and are pointing to the societal nature of prevailing human-animal relations. As one of the first German-language publications, this volume brings together essays spanning a range of disciplines, which discuss not just theoretical questions of the constitution of human and animal, but also depict related discussions around gender, identity and political praxis. The theses of well-known thinkers such as Foucault and Haraway, as well as current approaches from research in areas such as intersectionality and Queer Studies are reviewed anew, and supplemented by specific theoretical and empirical analyses.