Ecofeminism and Other Animals

Yesterday, I was invited to give a conference at Concordia University in Chantal Maillé’s class on Feminist Ethics. It is a “brief” presentation on ecofeminism and animals, focused on food issues and veganism.

I address issues such as the links between the oppression of humans and other animals, as well as environmental issues and the misperception that veganism is imperialist and elitist.

Representing veganism as a “white thing” is not only false, but it also harms vegans of color and indigenous vegans who are erased by the mainstream association of veganism with whiteness. Moreover, such misperception makes it harder for non-whites to become vegans without being seen as a traitor to their own culture.

Click here to download the PDF presentation (English).

I usually give this talk in French, so I may have forgot to translate some slides (sorry about that).

 

 

 

 

 

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Queering Animal Liberation. Call for Contributions

Queering Animal Liberation. Call for Contributions

VINE Press invites proposals for contributions to a forthcoming anthology, tentatively entitled “Queering Animal Liberation.” This ground-breaking volume will include chapters by activists, artists, and scholars all focused on the intersection between speciesism and homo/transphobia or, on the upside, linkages between the struggles for queer and animal liberation.

  • Essays illustrating or analyzing some conjunction of speciesism and homophobia or transphobia;
  • Reports and reflections on relevant activist campaigns;
  • Creative responses (artwork, poetry, comix, etc.) to the queer-animal intersection;
  • Meditations on whether and how we might “queer” animal liberation and/or “animate” struggles for social justice;
  • “Translations” of relevant work in the emerging academic area of critical animal studies, phrased so as to make that work both accessible and useful to activists and others outside of academia;
  • Works we can’t even imagine but turn out to be right on time.

How to Propose a Contribution

See VINE Call for Contribution for more information.

Note: VINE Press also publishes a zine, Plant-Powered People: Voices from the Intersections, which soon will be publishing a special issue devoted to the idea of “queering” animal liberation. Proposals that might be a better match for the zine than the anthology will be passed along to its compiler.

About the Editors

editors

Miriam Jones is a cofounder of VINE Sanctuary whose previous activist work includes LGBTQ liberation, feminist, and disability rights work. A former English teacher, Miriam is a skilled editor, proofreader, and project manager. (Fun fact about VINE: The sanctuary was initially funded by the proceeds of a proofreading and editing service run by Miriam and pattrice.) Her own poetry has been published in numerous literary journals, and she also contributed and essay to the recent anthology, The Ethics of Captivity, edited by Lori Gruen.

Christopher-Sebastian McJetters is a copyeditor by trade as well as a staff writer at Vegan Publishers. He lectures part-time on speciesism at Columbia University, and he also organizes events and discussions exploring the intersection of racism and speciesism. He writes for the blog Striving With Systems and has contributed to the recent anthology, Circles of Compassion: Connecting Issues of Justice, edited by Will Tuttle.

pattrice jones is a cofounder of VINE Sanctuary whose previous activist work includes tenant organizing, antiracist education, and direct action against AIDS. As a former writing instructor and longtime editor, pattrice is skilled in helping both novice and expert writers bring their own voices onto the page. Anthologies in which pattrice’s own essays appear include Ecofeminism (Bloomsbury, 2014); Confronting Animal Exploitation (McFarland, 2013); Sister Species (University of Illinois Press, 2011); Minding the Animal Psyche (Spring, 2010); Sistah Vegan (Lantern, 2010); Contemporary Anarchist Studies (Routledge, 2009); Igniting a Revolution (AK Press, 2006); Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? (Lantern, 2004); and Sustainable Development and Southern Realities (SDPI, 2003).

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Two other members of the VINE team, Aram Polster and Brandie Skorker, will advise the editors at two key junctures —determining the final line-up of contributions and assessing the overall publication prior to going to press —and also will be available for consultation concerning individual contributions.  A diverse array of VINE advisors in various fields of academic and activist endeavor also will be consulted on an as-needed basis and/or invited to review the volume before it goes to press.

 

 

About the Publisher

VINE Press is a project of VINE Sanctuary, which is an LGBTQ farmed animal sanctuary. Any profits associated with VINE Press titles will be used to fund the educational activities of the sanctuary.

FAQs

Do I need to be LGBTQ to contribute? No. Sincere allies who are sufficiently well-versed in LGBTQ issues to have something to say are welcome to contribute.

Do I need to be a previously-published writer to contribute? No, but you will need to steel yourself for the ego-bruising experience of being edited for publication. We’ll be as nurturing as we can be, but you still may find the process challenging.

I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s right for the anthology. What should I do? Send as an email at qal@bravebirds.org to start a conversation. We can figure out together whether what you have in mind is a good match for the book.

I’m an LGBTQ vegan and I definitely have opinions that I’d like to express to my non-vegan LGBTQ friends or my non-LGBTQ fellow animal advocates, but I’m not sure I have enough to say to fill an essay. What should I do? Subscribe to the VINE blog, where we will be publishing some prompts to spark folks like you to each write a few sentences, which we will then compile into a chapter for the anthology.

LGBTQ animal advocates are diverse in terms of both identity and opinion. How will you ensure that nobody is left out or misrepresented? VINE’s own LGBTQ community encompasses considerable diversity, including folks who don’t feel well-served by the alphabet soup of descriptors that are themselves rooted in Eurocentric ways of thinking about identity. Our extended editorial team includes lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and genderqueer people and is committed to producing an anthology that reflects and draws sustenance from our differences as well as our similarities. We will share this call for contributions widely. After we have begun to receive proposals, we will begin reaching out to individuals and organizations who might help us fill any gaps in the evolving table of contents.

I have some strong words for other activists. Is that OK? We may ask you to step off the soapbox and say what you have to say in terms likely to be heard by those with whom you disagree (rather than just be applauded by people who already agree with you), but yes: We definitely do want the anthology to confront hard truths and tackle controversial questions. When it comes to persistently anguishing disagreements, we hope to do so in a way that moves contentious conversations forward, rather than leaving everyone mired where they already were. Send us what you’ve got, or an idea of where you want to go, and we’ll take it from there.

What will I get if my contribution is selected for publication? Contributors to this anthology will receive two copies of the book but no monetary compensation. This is standard for both activist and academic anthologies.

Who will hold the copyright to my work if it is selected for publication? You will retain the copyright to your work and therefore will be allowed to share or reprint it as you like.

What about previously published work? If you would like us to consider including previously published work for which you retain the copyright, let us have a look at it. While we probably would not be interested in anything that is widely available already, pieces that were published in print, are not available online, and deserve a wider audience might be appropriate for the anthology.

Do you think this anthology is a good idea?
If so, please contribute to our 2015 Pride Drive, to help fund pre-publication costs.

See VINE Call for Contribution for more information.

La libération animale de Singer: 40 ans après

En présence de Peter Singer.

Dans son ouvrage intitulé La libération animale, le philosophe utilitariste Peter Singer développe trois grandes idées : le principe d’égale considération des intérêts, présenté comme le véritable fondement de l’égalité au sein de l’espèce humaine et pour tous les êtres sensibles ; le rejet du spécisme (la discrimination fondée sur l’espèce); et la conséquence pratique de ces deux idées, à savoir la nécessité de mettre un terme à certains types d’exploitation des animaux, notamment ceux qui ont trait à la recherche et l’élevage industriel. Cette œuvre phare a connu un retentissement immense. À tel point que la publication de La libération animale, en 1975, a été présentée comme le moment clef dans l’émergence du mouvement éponyme. Cependant, le mouvement de libération animale ne saurait se réduire à la seule pensée singerienne. D’une part, il est extrêmement protéiforme et fait l’objet de débats intenses à l’interne, entre les défenseurs des animaux eux-mêmes qui privilégient des approches diverses et dont les conclusions respectives s’avèrent parfois incompatibles, comme à l’externe, entre ceux qui cherchent à améliorer le sort des animaux et ceux qui défendent le statu quo ou contestent les arguments animalistes. D’autre part, il est sensiblement façonné par les cultures au sein desquelles il se développe.

L’objet de ce colloque sera de revenir sur le lien entre le mouvement de libération animale et les théories de Peter Singer qui, à tort ou à raison, en est perçu comme le père fondateur. Comment l’éthique animale de Peter Singer a-t-elle été accueillie depuis la publication de La libération animale ? Quels échos a-t-elle trouvés dans les mouvements animalistes ? Quelles ont été les évolutions conceptuelles et pratiques de la libération animale contemporaine ? Quelle place la doctrine utilitariste, et son principe fondateur conséquentialiste, occupent-ils dans le travail de Singer et dans les débats qu’il a engendrés ? Quels sont les types d’approches en éthique animale auxquelles a mené la publication de Singer ?

Dans la perspective de cette rencontre, nous encourageons la confrontation de points de vue interdisciplinaires (études sur les aires anglophones, philosophie, sociologie, droit, histoire etc.). Nous souhaitons par ailleurs que s’engage un dialogue entre les différentes approches théoriques : libération animale, droits des animaux, welfarisme, études critiques, statut politique des animaux, approche continentale etc.

On pourra notamment se pencher sur les thématiques suivantes (non exhaustives) :

  • L’antispécisme
  • Le principe d’égale considération des intérêts
  • Les analogies entre le spécisme et autres formes de discrimination
  • L’argument des cas marginaux
  • Le statut moral et juridique de « personne »
  • le débat qui oppose le fait de tuer et celui de faire souffrir
  • Les choix alimentaires : végétalisme, végétarisme, flexitarisme, régime omnivore (consciencieux ou non)
  • La question du remplacement des êtres tués
  • Les liens qu’entretient l’éthique animale avec les autres domaines de l’éthique appliquée : éthique de l’environnement, bioéthique, éthique médicale, etc.
  • L’utilitarisme vs. le déontologisme, l’éthique des vertus
  • La justice animale vue sous l’angle du libéralisme, du néo-conservatisme, du marxisme, de l’anarchisme, etc.

Les intervenants pourront s’exprimer en français ou en anglais.

Entrée libre et gratuite.

Appel à communication

Les propositions de communication d’environ 250 mots, accompagnées d’une notice personnelle de quelques lignes (statut, lieu d’exercice et coordonnées) devront être envoyées avant le 30 octobre 2014. Pour soumettre une proposition de communication, il est nécessaire:

Une notification sera envoyée aux auteurs avant le 15 janvier 2015.

Une sélection des textes communiqués pourra faire l’objet d’une publication ultérieure.

Les déplacements des participants ne pourront être pris en charge. Le montant des frais d’inscription pour les communicants sera précisé ultérieurement.

Comité scientifique

Malik Bozzo-Rey, Université Catholique de Lille
Emilie Dardenne, Université Rennes 2
Emmanuelle De Champs, Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis
Nicolas Delon, Université Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne
Renée Dickason, Université Rennes 2
Valéry Giroux, Université de Montréal
Jean-Luc Guichet, Université de Picardie – Jules Verne
René Lefebvre, Université de Rennes 1
Sophie Mesplède, Université Rennes 2
Brendan Prendiville, Université Rennes 2
Mauro Rossi, Université du Québec à Montréal
Enrique Utria, Université de Rouen
Kristin Voigt, McGill University

COMITÉ D’ORGANISATION


Emilie Dardenne, Université Rennes 2
Valéry Giroux, Université de Montréal
David Haigron, Université Rennes 2
Sophie Mesplède, Université Rennes 2
Enrique Utria, Université de Rouen

RESPONSABLES SCIENTIFIQUES


Emilie Dardenne, Université Rennes 2
Valéry Giroux, Université de Montréal
Enrique Utria, Université de Rouen

Contacts : Emilie Dardenne, Valéry Giroux, Enrique Utria. Pour nous contacter, merci d’utiliser l’adresse email du colloque : animallib@sciencesconf.org

Students for Critical Animal Studies (SCAS)

C’est déjà la semaine prochaine que se tiendra la conférence étudiante des Études animales critiques. Il y aura 27 présentations d’étudiants, de professeurs et d’activistes, de la bouffe végane et une manifestation le samedi soir dans le centre-ville.

It’s already next week! The Students for Critical Animal Studies annual meeting in Montreal. There will be 27 speakers, students, activists and professors, free vegan food and a protest on Saturday night downtown Montreal.

2nd ANNUAL CONFERENCE / 2ème CONFÉRENCE ANNUELLE
STUDENTS FOR CRITICAL ANIMAL STUDIES (SCAS)
ÉTUDIANT(E)S POUR LES ÉTUDES ANIMALES CRITIQUES

March 28-30 Mars 2014
Leacock Building, McGill University
855 Sherbrooke West, Montréal (Québec, Canada)

Schedule and abstracts / Horaire et résumés des présentations.

Demonstration on Saturday night : Different, but Equal: Basic Rights for All Vulnerable Selves /Différents, mais égaux: Les droits fondamentaux pour tous les individus vulnérables

Conference will be streamed for free on the internet (Thanks to Michael Sizer!)

SCAS POSTERS

 

FRIDAY MARCH 28TH / VENDREDI 28 MARS 2014

5:30 : PANEL 1 –  5:30 Livestream
Welcoming / Mot de bienvenue (Agatha Slupek, Isaac Stethem, Maude Ouellette-Dubé, Addison Woolsey)
“Radical Humility: Toward A More Holistic Critical Animal Studies Pedagogy” – Lauren Corman (Assistant Professor of Sociology, Critical Animal Studies Program, Brock University, Ontario)
“Animal Ethics: What do empirical studies teach us?” – Élise Desaulniers and Martin Gibert (Montréal)

7:30 : PANEL 2 (Facilitator: Christiane Bailey) – 7:30  Livestream
“The Right to Liberty of All Sentient Beings” – Valéry Giroux (U. de Montréal)
“Sexual Ethics and Other Animals:An Ecofeminist Critique of Zoosex” – Chloë Taylor (Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Alberta)


SATURDAY MARCH 29TH / SAMEDI 29 MARS 2014

10:00: PANEL 3 (Facilitator: Agatha Slupek) – 10:00 Livestream
Mot de bienvenue / Welcoming – Stevan Harnad (Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Science, UQAM) – Christiane Bailey (Université de Montréal)
“Arakawa’s Alternative Compassion: Gin no Saji, ‘Humane’ Farming, and the Indoctrination of Youth in the Absence of Critique” – Dylan Hallingstad O’Brien (Hamline University, Minnesota)
“Biopolitical Animals” – Christina Stephens (Purdue University, Indiana)
“Rabideau v. City of Ravine: Cases in Animal Law” – Nicholas Backman (Faculty of Law, McGill University)

1:15: PANEL 4 (Facilitator: Rocky Schwartz) – 1:15 Livestream
“The Surveillance of Nonhuman Farmed Animals: A Biopolitical Analysis of Current Shifts in ‘Food Safety’ Laws in Canada” – Kelly Struthers Montford (U of Alberta)
“The Human Experiment” – Kacie Auffret (UBC Okanagan)
“Nonhuman Animal Words: Fiction From the Nonhuman Perspective” – Kenny Kruse (University of Alabama)
“Alternative Methods to Animal Testing” –  Salomé Pollet (France)

3:30: PANEL 5 (Facilitator: Daniel Franck) – 3:30  Livestream
“Advocacy and Activism: Youth, Their Pets, and Situations of Domestic Violence” – Yaffa Elling (Social worker, danslarue.org)
“Fellow Speakers? A Critical Examination of Josephine Donovan’s Dialogization of Human-Nonhuman Relations” – Justin Morris (McMaster University, Ontario)
“A Future for Critical Animal Studies”- John Sanbonmatsu (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

6 pm / 18:00 : DEMO/PROTEST DOWNTOWN MONTREAL: Different, but Equal: Basic Rights for All Vulnerable Selves /Différents, mais égaux: Les droits fondamentaux pour tous les individus vulnérables

7:30 pm / 19:30 DINER at Burritoville (2055 Bishop, Montreal)

SUNDAY MARCH 30TH / DIMANCHE 30 MARS 2014

10:00 PANEL 6 (Facilitator: Addison Woolsey) – 10:00 Livestream
Welcoming/Mot de bienvenue
“A Child’s Best Friend? Child-Nonhuman Relationships in Violent Homes” – Elinor Lloyd (University of Warwick, UK)
“Sad Vegan, Bitter Vegan, Angry Vegan: Why Social Negativity is Crucial for the Animal Liberation Movement” – Daniel Frank (Vassar College)
“Animal Liberation, Culture, and Identity: A Globalizing Contested Site” – Marion Achoulias (Concordia University, Montréal)
“Israel: Towards a Vegan Revolution?” – Anne-Sophie Cardinal (Hebrew University, Jerusalem Israel)

1:15 : PANEL 7 (Facilitator: Isaac Stethem) – 1:15 Livestream
“Restoration of Bodily Autonomy for the Female-Bodied of Domesticated Species within a Sanctuary Framework” – Rocky Schwartz (Vassar College)
“Victims, All of Us: Strategies for Nonhuman Animal Advocacy” – Katherine Wayne (Queen’s University, Ontario)
“Political Liberation of Animot”Edyta Niemyjska (Concordia University)

3:00 PANEL 8 (Facilitator: Maude Ouellette-Dubé) – 3:00 Livestream
“Animal Ethics: What do empirical studies teach us?” – Élise Desaulniers and Martin Gibert (Montréal)
“Egalitarianism and Distributive Justice for Domesticated Animals”/“L’Égalitarisme et la justice distributive envers les animaux non-humains” – Frédéric Coté-Boudreau (Queen’s University, Ontario)
“Understanding oppression and transforming liberation” – mike nicholson (Guelph, Ontario)
Closing Comments / Mot de la fin (Rocky Schwartz and Daniel Frank)

Free and open to all

Info : http://studentsforcriticalanimalstudies.wordpress.com

 

Students for Critical Animal Studies – Conférence étudiante des études animales critiques

(English below)
Download the Call for paper / Télécharger l’appel à contributions (PDF)

scas1 En Mars prochain, se tiendra à Montréal la conférence étudiante des Études animales critiques (Critical Animal Studies).

N’hésitez pas à encourager vos étudiants à soumettre une proposition! C’est une occasion de conscientiser et stimuler la discussion entre les étudiants, les enseignants, les activistes et autres membres de la communauté au sujet de l’oppression – largement invisible – dont sont victimes les autres animaux dans nos sociétés.

Cette conférence offre également l’opportunité de découvrir une discipline universitaire encore méconnue, mais en pleine croissance qui inspire des milliers d’universitaires dans toutes les disciplines des Arts et Sciences à chercher les moyens de combattre l’exploitation des plus faibles et les violences envers les plus démunis de nos sociétés, les sans-droits.

Envoyer les propositions à studentsforcas@gmail.com (moins de 300 mots) avant le 15 novembre 2013.

Merci à Maude Ouellette, Agatha Anna et Isaac Stethem pour leur dévouement et leur détermination qui a rendu possible la tenue de cet événement à Montréal !

**suivi par le francais**

CALL FOR WORKSHOPS, PAPERS, PRESENTATIONS (PDF)

2nd annual conference of Students for Critical Animal Studies (SCAS)

March 28th-30th 2014
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

This conference aims to spread awareness and prompt dialogue among students, educators, activists, and community members about the oppression of non-human animals, with a focus on commonalities of oppression and strategies for student and non-student activism in the fight for animal and human liberation.

Presenters and attendees are encouraged to draw from a wide-range of social justice perspectives in their thought about nonhuman animals.

We welcome presentations from a variety of academic and non-academic fields, including but not limited to:

– activism and advocacy: strategies, actions, organizing, impediments, stories from personal experience
– environmental thought/ ecological justice
– able-ism/ disability theory
– critical race theory
– feminist theory/gender studies
– queer theory
– postcolonial studies
– phenomenology
– critical legal studies
– labour/anti-capitalist organizing
– cultural studies
– film studies
– animal law

The SCAS conference is what we make it! To submit a presentation, present a paper, workshop, film, or otherwise, should send in a max. 300-word proposal to studentsforcas@gmail.com by November 15th, 2013 at midnight.

Your proposal should include the following: title, name of presenter(s), presentation type, estimated length, a description of the presentation (abstract in the case of a paper), and any pertinent information regarding accessibility or material needs for the presentation or presenter.

For more info, join our facebook event
Download the call for paper in PDF

************ FRANCAIS ************

APPEL À CONTRIBUTIONS (PDF)

2ième conférence annuelle des Étudiants pour les Études Critiques sur les Animaux

28-30 mars 2014
Université McGill
Montréal, Québec, Canada

Cette conférence veut favoriser la conscientisation et le dialogue entre les étudiants, éducateurs, activistes et membres de la communauté au sujet de l’oppression des animaux non-humains.

La conférence se concentrera sur des questions vis-à-vis de l’oppression intersectionnelle, de l’utilisation des animaux non-humains en laboratoires et de toutes autres activités ou industries d’exploitation.

Il sera également question de stratégies d’activisme pour les étudiants et les non-étudiants qui luttent pour la libération animale et humaine.

Nous sommes ouverts à des présentations inspirées d’une variété de domaine académique et non-académique, incluant, mais n’étant pas limité à:

– Activisme et plaidoyer: stratégies, actions, organisation, obstacles encourus et expériences personnelles
– Pensée environnementale/justice écologique
– Théorie des handicaps/ able-ism
– Théorie critique sur les races
– Théorie féministe/études des genres
– Théorie queer
– Études post-coloniales
– Phénoménologie
– Droit animal/études critiques du droit
– Organisation des travailleurs/organisations anti-capitalisme
– Études des cultures
– Études du film

Pour soumettre une présentation, un article, un atelier, un film, ou tout autre matériel pertinent, veuillez nous envoyer votre proposition (de moins de 300 mots) à studentsforcas@gmail.com avant le 15 novembre 2013.

Votre proposition devrait inclure: titre, nom des présentateurs (un résumé dans le cas d’un article), ainsi que tout informations concernant les besoins d’accessibilité ou les besoins de matériel de support pour la présentation.

Pour plus d’info et rester au courant des changements: Événement facebookTélécharger l’appel à contribution en PDF.

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