September 9, 2008

Animals as Persons: An Interview with Gary Francione

Gary Francione begins his new book, Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation, with the following sentence-long paragraph: "My animal rights scholarship is controversial." Known for his staunch critiques of animal welfare, Animals as Persons draws together a number of essays relevant to the Western animal movement today. In this interview, Francione delves into the book's major themes, including why personhood is so important, and why sentience alone should qualify one as a member of the moral community. Explaining the economic forces that underpin many animal welfare initiatives, he also discusses the way in which various organizations play into the pocketbooks of animal industries. Additionally, Francione talks about his own journey to veganism, and the development of his animal rights theory. The interview ends with a discussion of environmentalism and its sometimes frictional relationship with animal rights.

News links:

• Manga artists join forces to promote animal rights
• Quebec reports 1st listeriosis death, recalls 11 cheeses
• Banged-up campaigners released
• A Look At Alabama's 8-Year Old Beefed Up Animal Cruelty Law

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.45 MB) and part 2 (2.53 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (10.48 MB) and part 2 (7.57 MB)

March 18, 2008

The Work that Reconnects: An Interview with Joanna Macy

"Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world." - Joanna Macy

Please join us for a much anticipated conversation with Dr. Joanna Macy. Widely recognized as a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology, Macy is less well-known as a proponent of animal issues and veganism. On this program, we'll explore some of the philosophical ideas and practical insights offered through this beloved mentor's engaged teachings, including their relevance to animals.

A vocal critic of industrial growth society, Macy will describe her understanding of the Great Turning, "the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization." For those who despair in the face of so many environmental and social crises, she encourages, "don't be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, for these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings. To suffer with is the literal meaning of compassion". Through decades of activism within the ecology, justice, and peace movements, Macy's interdisciplinary "work that reconnects" remains deeply grounded, and infused with profound gratitude.

Joanna Macy is the author of numerous books, such as Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age (1983); Dharma and Development (1985); Thinking Like a Mountain (with John Seed, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess; 1988); Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory (1991); World as Lover, World as Self (1991); Rilke's Book of Hours (1996, 2005); In Praise of Mortality (2004) (with Anita Barrows); Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (with Molly Young Brown, New Society Publishers, 1998), and a memoir Widening Circles (2000).

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.1 MB) and part 2 (2.36 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (6.13 MB) and part 2 (4.66 MB)

February 12, 2008

Electric Animal: Interview with Dr. Akira Lippit

A sequence of photos by Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.

Rather than predetermined and fixed, the categories "human" and "animal" are in flux. In this interview, Akira Lippit talks about how notions of humanity and animality are tightly bound together. Tracing the disappearance of animals from various ecospheres and the simultaneous appearance of animals in cinema (among other technological media), Lippit explores the figure of the animal within the context of modernity. Understood as without language and thus unable to conceptualize death, Western thought strangely maintains that animals cannot die. Turning a critical eye to the expression, "It's only an animal," the interview concludes with an analysis of violence against humans and animals during modernity. Given the weight of history, Lippit responds to the question, is resistance and agency possible? If so, how?

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (2.45 MB) and part 2 (2.75 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (4.89 MB) and part 2 (5.48 MB)

October 2, 2007

Literature and The Postcolonial Animal: An Interview with Philip Armstrong

"Diligent Ape" by Peter Zokosky

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? (To escape the factory farm? To find somewhere good to dust bathe?)

A: Or, maybe, the chicken crossed the road to knock on Philip Armstrong's door.

In Armstrong's prize-winning essay, "Sympathy", he writes about a chicken who mysteriously appeared at his home and quickly made herself comfortable, roosting on the sofa or preening herself by the computer. Then, one day she seemed not quite herself, so Philip and his partner set off to the vet, where they were soon confronted with the common attitude that dismisses the lives of some animals, such as chickens. "So why is sympathy for other life forms so trivialized today?" asks Armstrong, especially given that at one time "sympathy was considered one of the most precious, admirable and progressive of virtues." He suggests that historical forces that comprise industry, objectivity in science and the emergence of capitalism, collided over the same period, "At which point sympathy for animals — at least for any type of animal that can be turned into a resource — becomes terminally uneconomical."

Armstrong's recent scholarship at the University of Canterbury's "School of Culture, Literature and Society" in the English Programme "involves analysis of the human-animal relationship, as expressed in cultural representations and practices, especially in the contexts of colonialism, decolonisation and globalisation." In our conversation, we'll discuss some of the links between postcolonial theory and human-animal studies, including a discussion of his article, "The Postcolonial Animal." Drawing upon examples from literature, activism, and his New Zealand context, we'll hear from one of today's most exciting human-animal studies scholars.

More on Dr. Armstrong...

Philip Armstrong is the director of The New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies (NZCHAS), which includes scholars from the humanities and social sciences "whose research focuses on the conceptual and material treatment of non-human animals in culture, society and history." Armstrong is also the editor of Knowing Animals, and his book What Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity is about to be published with Routledge. He teaches classes on postcolonial writing, cultural studies, and human-animal studies, including the Honours course "Postcolonial Writing: Animals and Settlement."

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.01 MB) and part 2 (2.93 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (6.07 MB) and part 2 (5.82 MB)

May 15, 2007

Animal Liberation, Critical Theory, and the Left: Interview with John Sanbonmatsu

Despite a recent proliferation of scholarship, Peter Singer and Tom Regan are still often understood as the first and last words on contemporary animal ethics and philosophy. John Sanbonmatsu offers a clear alternative perspective, through his viable challenge to the Academy, the Left, and the animal movements. Drawing on authors such as Marx, Gramsci, and Merleau-Ponty, Sanbonmatsu illuminates what it means to take animals seriously within broader frameworks of justice and liberation. Equally potent, he critiques the postmodern turn within the Academy to ask serious questions about social change, strategy, and power.

John Sanbonmatsu teaches political philosophy and ethics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. He is the author of The Postmodern Prince: Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Political Subject, and the forthcoming Animal Liberation and Critical Theory.

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (2.61 MB) and part 2 (2.59 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (5.21 MB) and part 2 (5.17 MB)

May 8, 2007

The World Peace Diet: Interview with Will Tuttle

"Food, like all apparently physical matter, is energy and vibration and is a manifestation of consciousness, and though it is important to prepare, eat, and share food mindfully, we can see that it's important to look more deeply than this, to the actual source of our food," writes Will Tuttle, in his new book The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. "When we instigate violence and slavery with our food purchases, it is inevitable that the consciousness of violence and slavery will be planted in our psychological being, dulling our feelings and undermining our possible attempts to prepare and eat the food mindfully and thankfully." In this provocative book, Tuttle argues that much of the social unrest and violence manifest within Western culture, and its imposition on others, can be traced back to the violence exercised against farmed animals. Drawing together a variety of spiritual traditions, historical texts, and psychological perspectives, The World Peace Diet offers an ambitious call for reconnection and compassion.

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.63 MB) and part 2 (2.54 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (7.27 MB) and part 2 (5.09 MB)

September 26, 2006

Igniting a Debate: Environmentalism, Religion, and a Call to Action

On this week's show we connect with Steve Best, who co-edited the provocative anthology Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth, and Lisa Kemmerer who contributed a chapter entitled, "In the Beginning: God Created the Earth and 'Ecoterrorism'".

First, Best introduces Igniting a Revolution and discusses "revolutionary environmentalism", a central theme of the book. He then responds to critiques against militant activism, and concludes by reflecting on privilege and importance of multi-dimensional politics.

Second, Kemmerer offers an overview of "In the Beginning" and suggests an alternative reading of Genesis, and other scripture, to support her claim that Christianity offers a moral imperative to act on behalf of animals and the earth. We also discuss her new book In Search of Consistency: Ethics and Animals, which mingles philosophy and religion.

Download mp3s of the interview: part 1 (2.36 MB) and part 2 (3.5 MB)

August 29, 2006

Yoga & Veganism/The Roots of Animal Voices

Ted Grand and daughter, Stella

We're joined by special guest co-host and co-founder of Animal Voices, Ted Grand. We'll hear about the origins of this very radio show that's been on the air for over 10 years and what it was like paving the way for this forum of animal advocacy discussion.

Ted is also co-founder and co-director of Moksha Yoga and will co-host an enlightening discussion with guest, David Life, on how the principles of yoga coincide with veganism, environmentalism, social awareness and non-violent living. Life is a prominent animal activist and co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga which is recognized by TIME magazine as one of the nine methods of hatha Yoga taught in the world today. We'll discuss David's "world domination plan: kindness"€, finding peace through the spiritual foundations of yoga, and his inspiring work in yoga and activism, including co-creating the Animal Mukti Free Spay & Neuter Clinic in New York City.

Download mp3s of the interview: part 1 (2.55 MB) and part 2 (3.12 MB)

August 15, 2006

Vivisection in Brazil & Militancy in the Animal Movements

Source: Instituto Nina Rosa

Source: Friends of Animals

First, director Denise Gonçalves will talk about the new film Não Matarás, which addresses animal experimentation in Brazil (includes subtitles in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese). The film, created by the Instituto Nina Rosa, offers an important snapshot of animal activism in Brazil, and a devastating picture of animal cruelty within research labs and universities. Gonçalves will share her thoughts on making the film, current Brazilian animal protection legislation, and how activists have mobilized to create positive changes, which are so urgently needed.

Then, we connect with Lee Hall, legal director for Friends of Animals and author of the recently-published Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror. In this controversial book, Hall centrally tackles the question of violence in the animal movements. Tune in to learn what inspired this book, and why the author is adamant that the movement must reflect more deeply on its militant rhetoric and strategies, which Hall argues are doing more harm than good, ultimately undermining the achievement of animal rights.

Download mp3s of the interview: part 1 (2.08 MB) and part 2 (4.11 MB)

May 2, 2006

Feeding the Spirit: Vegetarianism and the Hare Krishna Movement

Hare Krishna followers are generally known for their sumptuous cooking and joyous dancing and singing, but few Westerners understand the history and philosophy of the movement, its influence on the rise of vegetarianism, and its relevance to animal welfare and rights. Join us for a conversation with Hindu scholar and disciple of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Steven J. Rosen, as we explore these issues.

This Tuesday learn how vegetarianism can nurture the spirit, as well as the body.

Rosen is the author of over twenty books on Hindu-related subjects, including Holy Cow: The Hare Krishna Contribution to Vegetarianism & Animal Rights (2004). He is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies.

Download mp3s of the interview: part 1 (2.34 MB) and part 2 (2.52 MB)