August 11, 2009

No Easy Answers: McWilliams Takes on Locavore Logic

Food movements have been gaining serious momentum lately. The meanings of "just", "ethical," and "sustainable" food are all contentious. Biotechnology, organics, "free range" meat, vegetarianism and localism are but a handful of issues currently marinating in the proverbial stew. Historian James E. McWilliams, author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, specifically cautions us against diving too eagerly into that bowl of current popular assumptions espoused by local food proponents. With a respectful nod to the locavore movement, and the many excellent points it raises, McWilliams reevaluates the logic of food miles as the sole criteria for ethical eating. Instead, the lauded scholar underscores the importance of life cycle analyses, and points to issues such as scale as key factors to consider by consumers. Further, McWilliams demonstrates why vegetarian food offers the greatest ecological benefits.

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lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.02 MB) and part 2 (3.03 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (8.97 MB) and part 2 (8.96 MB)

August 19, 2008

Wildlife Photography: The Legacy of Camera Hunting, Masculinity, and Colonialism

Theodore Roosevelt with a dead elephant. Photo by Edward Van Altena, 1909.

In this conversation, Dr. Mathew Brower, Curator at the University of Toronto and Lecturer in Museum Studies, gives us a fascinating historical account of wildlife photography in the United States and Britain. With an emphasis on "camera hunting" and an eye toward masculinity, Brower notes the shifts in hunting and photography practices, and the larger accompanying political and cultural contexts that informed their development. From Roosevelt and the end of "manliness" to industrialization and the physical decline of "game" populations, the story of wildlife photography twists and turns through a number of interesting characters who were set on proving their prowess and skill, while animals at times disrupted the photographers' pursuits. Entangled with colonial history, tune in to learn how wildlife photography signifies much more than pretty pictures.

News links:

• Humpback whale on comeback trail, say conservationists
• One Animal protectionist Released from Remand

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lower quality / smaller: part 1 (2.99 MB) and part 2 (3 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (9.08 MB) and part 2 (9.01 MB)

June 10, 2008

Animal Activism and Visual Culture: An Interview with Keri Cronin

Detail from "Second Stage of Cruelty" by William Hogarth. Public domain image from Wikipedia.

The animal movements are known for their use of graphic images, but what is the history behind such strategies? How have these images changed over time? When are these images successful and when do they backfire? Dr. Keri Cronin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Brock University, discusses the history of the movements, some of the key advocates, and the strategies they deployed. For example, Cronin describes the legacy of social reformer and antivivisectionist Frances Power Cobbe, particularly her creative appropriation of scientific images.

At times subverting the status quo, and other times reinforcing it, the visual history of early animal activism tells us something important not only about past treatment of animals, but also about the social contexts within which advocates struggled.

News links:

• Celebrities unite to battle animal activists
• Demand spikes at pet food banks, discount vets
• New guidelines published as mouse models thrown into question

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lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.15 MB) and part 2 (3.21 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (9.29 MB) and part 2 (9.21 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?

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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)

December 4, 2007

From a Renaissance Radical to Talking Pigs: Dr. Erica Fudge’s Take on History and Culture

Bear baiting. Public domain image from Wikipedia.

We often look back on previous eras with moral righteousness, but how far have we really come in our treatment of animals? How complete is any history that fails to acknowledge the enormous role animals have played in shaping human culture, and our self-identity?

Historians have rarely regarded animals as a serious topic of study. Yet animals have their own histories and have signficantly shaped human history. In this interview Dr. Fudge, Reader in Literary and Cultural Studies at Middlesex University, shows the importance of studying animals in history, specifically those in the early modern period in Europe. From "bear-baiting" to "pet-keeping", Fudge discusses how understandings of animals are intimately — and complexly — tied to various powerful ideas, including those associated with progress and civility.

In the midst of dominant historical accounts, too, are competing voices and alternative visions. For example, Montaigne's (1533-1592) views on animals were radical for his time, and remain radical today. Tune in to hear about how he challenged the ethical orthodoxy of his era, and continues to influence contemporary writers. Also, in the second half of the program, Fudge talks about how animals are used to tell stories (often about ourselves), so much so that sometimes the animals themselves get lost. From Babe, Black Beauty, and Lassie Come Home, Fudge offers some useful ways to engage with contemporary cultural images and texts.

Those who subscribe to the axiom "those who fail to understand history are bound to repeat it" will likely enjoy this engaging interview with Dr. Erica Fudge.

Fudge is the author of many books, including Brutal Reasoning: Animals, Rationality and Humanity in Early Modern England (2006), Animal (2002), Perceiving Animals: Humans and Beasts in Early Modern English Culture (2000), and various articles. She is also the director of the British Animal Studies Network.

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.07 MB) and part 2 (2.77 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (6.2 MB) and part 2 (5.54 MB)

April 3, 2007

Cows, Colonialism, and Capitalism: Interview with David Nibert

Well-known within the animal movements as the author of Animal Rights/Human Rights: Entanglements of Oppression and Liberation, Dr. David Nibert is a professor of Sociology at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Historically grounded, and passionately argued, Nibert's theory contends that oppression is primarily underpinned by economic gain and supported by state ideology. His scholarship offers both an economic analysis of oppression, including animal oppression, and a strong call for socialism. Beyond simply considering the roles animals have played within human society, significantly, Nibert also attempts to account for animals' experiences and perspectives throughout history.

His recent paper entitled "Cows, Profits, and Genocide: The Oppressive Side of 'Beef' Consumption," recently presented at Brock's "Thinking about Animals: Domination, Captivity, Liberation" conference, carries forward Nibert's economic critique through a sustained case study. Focusing on capitalism, colonialism, and their intimate connection to the exploitation of cows, Nibert explores how the colonization of the Americas was intertwined with the growth of the "beef" industry. Provocatively, he ties his historical insights into contemporary examples: "The entangled oppression of devalued humans and cows is most obvious today in Brazil and the Darfur region in western Sudan — where murder and displacement are tied to the expansion of the profitable 'beef industry.'" Tune in to hear more about this and related arguments.

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lower quality / smaller: part 1 (4.03 MB) and part 2 (2.17 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (8.13 MB) and part 2 (4.42 MB)

November 28, 2006

Animals Are Part of the Working Class: Interview with Jason Hribal

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!

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (3.88 MB) and part 2 (1.86 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (7.77 MB) and part 2 (3.73 MB)

February 8, 2005

Native Americans and Vegetarianism with Rita Laws, Ph.D.

We speak with Dr. Rita Laws about connections between vegetarianism and Native Americans. Dr. Laws, who is Choctaw and Cherokee, will provide a historical analysis of hunting and colonialism, along with an examination of some Native American traditional views on non-human animals.

Dr. Laws has been vegetarian since 1979. In 1974 she witnessed the slaughter of a lamb in front of a mother sheep, and the experience strongly influenced her choice to become vegetarian. At the same time, she also learned about the "tens of thousands of kids in foster care [who] are waiting for permanency" and she became a special needs adoption activist. She has written several books and articles about domestic adoption and children with special needs. She is currently revising a book she wrote last year about Indian Peace Medals, which signify lasting friendship and peace.

Download mp3s of the interview:
lower quality / smaller: part 1 (2.83 MB) and part 2 (2.64 MB)
higher quality / larger: part 1 (5.68 MB) and part 2 (5.3 MB)

May 23, 2002

Charles Patterson, Author of Eternal Treblinka

Download mp3s of the interview: part 1 (3.56 MB) and part 2 (3.73 MB)

May 24, 2001

Marjorie Spiegel, author of The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery

Download mp3s of the interview: part 1 (1.92 MB) and part 2 (2.16 MB)