Everyone welcome.

Title: The role of language in interspecies politics: Towards a theory of political animal voices.

Abstract: Research shows that non-human animals have their own languages and cultures. They are individuals with their own perspectives on life, who form social and political relations with human and non-human others. In current legal and political systems, they are however still seen and used as objects. Animal rights theorists challenge this, arguing that non-human animals are sentient beings whose interests should be taken into account morally. In my talk I will argue this is not enough: we should recognize that other animals speak and act politically, and see this as co-constitutive for building new interspecies democracies.

[Photo Credit (Dogs): We Animals Media - WAM 29243]

Photo by Bob Bronshoff

The Kingston Interspecies Community working group will host an informal conversation with Eva Meijer on September 28, at 11:00 am, in Philosophy Lounge (Watson 341). Everyone welcome.

Topic: Conducting research in interspecies communities.

[Photo Credit (Goat) - We Animals Media - WAM 14053]

Charlotte Blattner

As part of the Ban Righ Centre Fall Speaker Series, Charlotte E. Blattner (Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Law School) will be speaking on Friday October 12, 2018 at noon, at the Ban Righ Centre (32 Bader Lane) on the following topic:

Title: “Animals, the Forgotten Proletariat”

For centuries, labour has been a key site for struggles of recognition, membership, and legal rights. In recent years, scholars of various disciplines have begun to argue that animals are part of the working class, too—albeit a forgotten one. In this talk, Charlotte Blattner explores the promises and pitfalls of this growing body of scholarship.

[Photo Credit (Goat): We Animals Media - WAM 31072]

Topic: “Doing multispecies ethnography: reflections on a feminist geographic approach to pedagogy.”

[Photo Credit (Cow): We Animals Media - WAM 30982]

This Thursday, November 29^th, the GSC will be hosting the second Emerging Research Seminar from 2:30-4:00 PM in MC E229. There are three speakers from various departments in the university that will be giving talks on their research of animals and geography:

• 2:30-3:00 pm: Siobhan Spieran (PhD, Environmental Sciences) will be speaking about animal tourism and welfare
• 3:00-3:30 pm: Rachel Kuzmich (PhD, Geography) will be speaking about her work in using remote sensing to identify ecological indicators of optimal bird habitat
• 3:30-4:00 pm: Omar Bachour (PhD, Philosophy) will be giving his talk “Animal Alienation, Appropriation, and the ‘Worlding of the World’”

Light refreshments will be provided. We hope to see you all there!

Photo by Darren Chang, taken at VINE Sanctuary

All are invited to join the Kingston Interspecies Community research group for a paper workshop on March 22, 11:30-1:00 pm, in Mac-Corry D214.

The paper, entitled “Animal Agency in Community: A Political Multispecies Ethnography of VINE Sanctuary” by Charlotte Blattner, Sue Donaldson and Ryan Wilcox will be distributed a week in advance, and participants are asked to read it before the workshop so that we can jump immediately into discussion after a short introduction.

Please contact Sue Donaldson to receive a copy.

This collection of interviews includes conversations with Dr. Sharon Holland (Department of American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Dr. Naisargi Dave (Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto) who will be speaking at the launch.

When: Thursday, October 17, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Where: Room 103, Mitchell Hall, 69 Union St.

Literature on the ethics and politics of food and that on human–animal relationships have infrequently converged. Representing an initial step toward bridging this divide, Messy Eating features interviews with thirteen prominent and emerging scholars about the connections between their academic work and their approach to consuming animals as food. The collection explores how authors working across a range of perspectives—postcolonial, Indigenous, black, queer, trans, feminist, disability, poststructuralist, posthumanist, and multispecies—weave their theoretical and political orientations with daily, intimate, and visceral practices of food consumption, preparation, and ingestion.

The Department of Philosophy, Queen’s University, is hosting APPLE fellow Julia Gibson at the department’s weekly colloquium on October 31.

Title: Exploring Transformative Interspieces Justice: Taking Cues from Narrative, Practice, and Theory

This talk will explore different ways of applying the concept of transformative interspecies justice in the contexts of climate justice, fancy rat breeding, and science fiction fantasy. The aim is to explore where these accounts converge and diverge, as well as to suggest promising avenues for developing a broader, if not universal, framework of transformative interspecies justice.

When: Thursday, October 31, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Where: Room 517, Watson Hall, 49 Bader Lane
Everyone welcome.

[Photo Credit (elephant): We Animals Media - WAM 20620]

[Photo Credit (Pig): We Animals Media - WAM 33168]

Event Location: Stauffer Library, Fireplace Reading Room

Drs. Kymlicka and King will reflect on their own writings pertaining to animals, ethics, and everyday politics. They will aim to have an open-ended discussion about animals and what it means to be in relation with them both politically and ethically, and about how to bring animals into the humanities and social sciences, followed by a discussion with the audience.

Held in the Fireplace Reading Room in Stauffer Library, the Fireplace Series aims to spark interdisciplinary thought and ideas about all sorts of places that matter. Two speakers from different disciplinary backgrounds meet for an impromptu conversation, seeking both common and uncommon ground. Sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Science and Queen’s University Library, these gatherings are also recorded and shared as podcasts in partnership with CFRC radio.

All are invited to join the Kingston Interspecies Community research group for a paper workshop on January 17, 2020, 12:00-2:00 pm, in Watson Hall 517.

Before the workshop, participants are asked to read the paper, entitled “Dwelling with Animal-Others: Towards a Definition of Multispecies Community” by Lauren Van Patter, Omar Bachour, and Darren Chang so that we can jump immediately into discussion after a short introduction and set of comments.