Photo by Flickr user paukrus

How have animals shaped history? How is animals’ work undervalued (or simply not acknowledged as such), and how might a class analysis be useful? What would a “history from below” mean in regards to animals?

On this show, Jason Hribal delves into these and other questions, as we explore his scholarship, including “Animals Are Part of the Working class: A Challenge to Labor History” (Labor History, 2003), and more recently “Jesse: A Working Dog” (Counterpunch.org), and “Animals, Agency, and Class: Writing the History of Animals from Below” (forthcoming, Human Ecology Review). Hribal’s analysis interrupts conventional historical accounts, and challenges us to recognize that “[a]nimals do not ‘naturally’ become private property, no more than humans ‘naturally’ come to sell their labor. Rather there is an active history here—one of expropriation, exploitation, and resistance” (Hribal, 2003, p. 212).

Also, at the beginning of the program, we are joined by Olivier Berreville, the national contact for Canada for InterNICHE (the International Network for Humane Education). Berreville shares some exciting news about the 2006 Humane Education Award, which helps teachers and students implement alternatives to animal use and experimentation. Find out more about the award, and apply!

Listen right now:

or download an mp3 of the interview.