Call for papers: Animals and Workers in the Food System

“The Two Great Invisibilities: Perspectives on Workers and Animals in the Food System” (deadline 15 October 2013)

“The past decade has brought tremendous and much needed attention to the connections between food choices, health, and environmental sustainability. Despite this exposure, however, several foundational aspects of the contemporary food system have remained at the margins of most mainstream debates. Notably, concerns related to the rights of food system workers, as well as considerations for the interests of non-human animals, have often been overlooked. Rather than confronting significant ethical questions about the often intersecting exploitation of working people and animals, the topics tend to be handled separately from larger questions about health, equity, and sustainability in the food system.

In light of this, we are seeking contributions for an edited volume that aims to bridge theory and practice by highlighting the connections between workers and animals in the food system. Contributions should strive to push the dialogue on food systems toward an intersectional, inclusive and actionable approach. We are open to scholarship from any number of social science and humanist disciplines, as well as from diverse philosophical and methodological perspectives, including engaged and participatory action research. Works that interrogate these intersectional issues across any level of food production, distribution, or consumption are welcome. Thematic topics include, but are not limited to:

1) critical theory related to animals, gender, race, and class, as well as legal and political analysis, that explains the current status of working people and animals in the food system and how their struggles are inherently linked;
2) the industrial food system’s social, economic, ethical, and public health impacts on workers and animals alike; and
3) the historical and contemporary experiences of labor and animal advocates who seek to reform current practices and shed light on enduring injustices.

We invite interested researchers to submit a brief paragraph expressing their interest and their proposed manuscript topic. Extended abstracts will be requested from selected contributors. We are not seeking previously published manuscripts at this time. Researchers who have studied either working people or animals in the food system are encouraged to take this opportunity to broaden the scope of their work and submit relevant proposals.

Inquiries and proposed topics should be emailed to Dr. Linnea Laestadius (LLaestad [at] uwm.edu) and Dr. Garrett Broad (gbroad [at] asc.upenn.edu).

Please include “Food System Workers and Animals” in your email subject line and your proposed topic in the body of the email.  Proposals need to be received no later than October 15th, 2013. To date, the University of Nebraska Press has expressed strong interest in the edited volume.

Linnea Laestadius, PhD, MPP
Assistant Professor
Zilber School of Public Health
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

Garrett Broad, PhD
George Gerbner Post Doctoral Fellow
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania