Call For Papers
AAG 2017 Boston (April 5-8, 2017)
Session title: Towards Vegan Geographies: Ethics Beyond Violence
Organizers:
Richard J. White (Sheffield Hallam University)
Ophélie Véron (Université Catholique de Louvain)
Simon Springer (University of Victoria)
Yamini Narayan (Deakin University)
Veganism as an ethics and a practice has a recorded history dating back to Antiquity. Yet, it is only recently that researchers have begun the process of formalising the study of veganism. Scholars who examine this theory and action are usually situated in sociology, history, philosophy, cultural studies or critical animal studies. The centrality and contested nature of place in the actions and discourse of animal rights activists however suggest an inherently spatial praxis. Slaughterhouses are deliberately closed and placed out of the sight; our familiar urban environment is filled with references to eating meat and exploiting animals, although normalised and rendered invisible. On the other hand, activists take to the street to defend animal rights and invite individuals to change their perception on everyday places and practices of animal violence. Animal liberation and veganism therefore embody an inherently spatial praxis – the desire to live without places of violence (White, 2015). As underlined by Harper (2010:5-6), ‘veganism is not just about the abstinence of animal consumption; it is about the ongoing struggle to produce socio-spatial epistemologies of consumption that lead to cultural and spatial change’. While an interest in domination over non-human animals has gained momentum within critical geography circles in the last two decades (Wolch and Emel, 1995; Philo and Wilbert, 2000; Emel et al., 2002, Gillespie and Collards, 2015; White, 2015), the scarcity of available literature highlights the need for geographers to further reflect on vegan activism and practice. As scholars-activists identifying with veganism, we seek to underscore what geographers can contribute to our understanding of critical veganism and vegan praxis.
We therefore would like to invite research presentations addressing themes including but not limited to:
- Veganism and critical animal geographies
- Vegan, post-colonial and feminist geographies
- Speciesism and imagined geographies
- Total liberation and emancipatory politics
- Veganism as a spatial praxis
- Veganism and positionality
- Vegan movements and activism
- Vegan cultures and subcultures
- Indigenous and Black veganism
- Intersectionality
- Anthroprivilege and anthroparchy
- Veganism and anarchist geographies
- Veganism, capitalism and the animal industrial complex
- Veganism and critical pedagogies
- Veganism and environmentalism
- Vegan futures
We also welcome presentations in non-traditional and participatory formats. Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to y.narayanan@deakin.edu.au, springer@uvic.ca, ophelie.ei.veron@gmail.com and richard.white@shu.ac.uk by 21 October 2016.
The session will be followed by an open discussion. If you would like to participate (e.g. discussant) then please feel free to contact us as well.
Please note:
Once you have submitted an abstract to us and it is accepted, you will also need to register AND submit an abstract on the AAG website. The AAG abstract deadline is 27 October 2016: http://www.aag.org/cs/http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/how_to_submit_an_abstract
References
Emel, J., Wilbert, C. and Wolch, J. (2002) Animal Geographies, Society and Animals, 10(4), p. 407-412.
Gillespie, K., & Collard, R. C. (eds.)(2015)Critical Animal Geographies: Politics, Intersections and Hierarchies in a Multispecies World. Routledge.: London& New York.
Harper, A. B. (2010). Race as a ‘Feeble Matter’in Veganism: Interrogating Whiteness, Geopolitical Privilege, and Consumption Philosophy of ‘Cruelty-Free’Products. Journal for critical animal studies, 8(3), p. 5-27.
Philo, C. and Wilbert, C.(eds.), Animal spaces, beastly places: new geographies of human-animal relations,Routledge, London and New York.
White, R. J. (2015) Animal geographies, anarchist praxis, and critical animal studies. In:Kathryn Gillespie and Rosemary-Claire Collard (eds.), Critical Animal Geographies: Politics, Intersections and Hierarchies in a Multispecies World. Routledge: London& New York, p.19-35.
White, R. J. (2015) Following in the Footsteps of Elisée Reclus: Disturbing Places of Inter-Species Violence that are Hidden in Plain Sight. In: Anthony J. Nocella II, Richard J. White and Erika Cudworth (eds.), Anarchism and Animal Liberation. Essays on Complementary Elements of Total Liberation, Jefferson: Mc Farland & Company, p. 212-230.
Wolch, J. and Emel, J. (1995) Bringing the Animals Back In. In: Jennifer Wolch and Jacque Emel (eds.) Special Issue: Bringing the Animals Back In. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 13.6, p. 632–636.