New Book: “Animal Labour: A New Frontier of Interspecies Justice?”

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Charlotte E. Blattner, Will Kymlicka, and Kendra Coulder recently edited an exciting new book published at Oxford University Press in February 2020.

Animal Labour: A New Frontier of Interspecies Justice? features contributions from several APPLE members, including Omar Bachour, Sue Donaldson, Will Kymlicka, and Charlotte Blattner, and presents the work achieved during APPLE’s workshop held in 2018.

Is animal labour inherently oppressive, or can work be a source of meaning, solidarity, and social membership for animals? This challenging question drives this thought-provoking collection which explores the possibilities and complexities of animal labour as a site for interspecies justice. The book assembles an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars who carefully grapple with the many facets, implications, and entanglements of animal labour, and who, crucially, place animals at the heart of their analyses. Can animals engage in good work and have humane jobs? What kinds of labour rights are appropriate for animal workers? Can animals consent to work? Would recognizing animals as workers improve their legal and political status, or simply reinforce the perception that they are beasts of burden? Can a focus on labour help to create or deepen bonds between animal advocates and other social justice movements?

Table of Contents:

  1. Animal Labour and the Quest for Interspecies Justice, by Charlotte Blattner, Kendra Coulter and Will Kymlicka

    Part I. The Promise of Good Work
  2. Toward Humane Jobs and Work-Lives for Animals, by Kendra Coulter
  3. Good Work for Animals, by Alasdair Cochrane
  4. Conservation Canines: Exploring Dog Roles, Circumstances and Welfare Status, by Renee D’Souza, Alice Hovorka and Lee Niel

    Part II: The Dilemmas of Animal Labour
  5. Animal Labour: Toward a Prohibition on Forced Labour and a Right to Freely, by Charlotte Blattner
  6. Alienation and Animal Labour, by Omar Bachour
  7. Down on the Farm: Status, Exploitation and Agricultural Exceptionalism, by Jessica Eisen
  8. The Meaning of Animal Work, by Nicolas Delon
  9. The Working Day: Animals, Capitalism and Surplus Time, by Dinesh J. Wadiwel
  10. Animal Labour in a Post-work Society, by Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka