CFPs:

• Global Animal: An Animal Studies Conference. September 27-28th 2010, University of Wollongong NSW Australia. More details here.
• Ocean Past III. Trinity College, Dublin. November 18-20th, 2010. More details here.
• A call for manuscripts for the new Critical Animal Studies book series. More details here, just in case you missed them.

Other:

• The New York Post had a good article on children becoming vegetarian. Though Erik Marcus is right, why are they still letting Nina Planck act like an expert?
• Scu made a post on the weirdness of the argument that being for animals means you are somehow against humans. That resulted in a series of interesting responses. In this case, Levi Bryant has a great post up, and Peter Gratton has three posts. See here, here, and here.

We are pleased to invite proposals for a new book series, Critical Animal Studies, to be published by Rodopi Press, one of Europe’s premiere academic presses. The main goals of the series, which differentiates it from the pre-existing series in the field of animal studies, are that we are particularly looking to publish works that:

(a) focus on ethical issues pertinent to actual animals (as opposed to animals as only metaphors, tropes, or philosophical concepts); i.e. work with a certain normative value;

(b) adopt a broad critical orientation to animal studies, including (but not limited to) work that investigates and challenges the complex dynamics of structural, institutional, and discursive power formations that organize life conditions, relations, and experiences of animals, humans, and the environment alike; work that explores diverse forms and sites of human/animal resistance; work that contributes to current global debates by contextualizing critical animal issues within, for instance, processes of globalization, climate change, and biotechnology; work that intervenes in the animal economy of the production, science, service, experience, and culture industries; as well as work that critically analyzes ideologies, practices and effects of the current animal welfare movement;

(c) bridge boundaries between academic/activist knowledge, between theory/practice, as well as between existing disciplines. Based on this commitment to interdisciplinarity, all work published must be in language that is as clear and accessible to as wide an audience as possible;

(d) contribute to creative, bold, innovative, and boundary shifting knowledge development in critical animal studies.

If we can be of any further help or assistance in discussing projects please do not hesitate to contact either of us via email. Further information and submission guidelines are found on the book series website: http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/?page_id=499

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Helena Pedersen
Senior Co-Editor

Malmö University
helena.pedersen@mah.se

Vasile Stănescu
Senior Co-Editor

Stanford University
vts@stanford.edu

• TPC has a list of several upcoming animal conferences. I’ll just link to them rather than repeating them all here.
• Call for the Nomination of 2010 Critical Animal Studies Awards.
• JCAS special issues on Women of Color in Critical Animal Studies

Blogs, Newspapers and Journals

• A Philosophy Carnival of Blogs about animals, over at The Living Color.
• The NY Times has an article on bio-engineering animals to feel less pain. Several Responses: Martin, Kazez, Ernst.
• From the most recent issue of Sociology, “Animal Shelter Emotion Management: A Case of In Situ Hegemonic Resistance?” by Nik Taylor and a review of Bob Torres’s Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights by Roger Yates; from The Canadian Journal of Sociology, “Beyond Pets: Exploring Relation Perspectives of Petness” by Jen Wrye.

The most recent issue of Law, Culture and the Humanities has articles from Cary Wolfe, Gary Francione, Marie Fox, and Tamie L. Bryant.

Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature by D.G. Burnett is now available (and on sale via PUP).

David Cassuto “Owning What You Eat: The Discourse of Food,” forthcoming this fall in Democracy, Ecological Integrity and International Law, is available for download at SSRN.

• The first is the concept and usefulness of personhood. Scu has a posted on the history of the concept. Margaret Sommerville has an article arguing against personhood for animals. This article comes by way of A Thinking Reed, where Lee has two posts up responding, here and here. You might also want to check outhis post on corporate personhood. Mary Martin makes the argument that corporate personhood is bad for the personhood of non-human animals. Scu adds some comments to both of these discussions. Greg also writes a post on personhood. Meanwhile, H-net Animal has been having a discussion on personhood (click here and scroll to the bottom to follow the discussion).
• There has also been an interesting discussion on non-human ethics. Paul made the original post, following up on a discussion we were having about anti-correlationist thinking and the animal.Levi followed up by combining some of his earlier analysis on inhuman ethics with Paul’s post. That then generated an excellent discussion in comments (read them), Peter made some short comments on his blog (here and here), and then both Paul and Adrian followed up on stuff they had said in comments in full length blog posts, and of course Levi found the time to already respond. Scu followed up with some general concerns. Levi had fleshed his response here, Adrian responded again here, and Levi has also already responded here.
• Lastly, Craig has a post up on the concepts of ‘human’ and ‘animals’.

• Following AUFS, the three of us here at The Inhumanities have each made a post explaining what the most influential books for us have been. Craig, Scu, and Greg.We’d like to encourage other bloggers to do the same.

CFPs:

• The 9th Annual North American Conference for Critical Animal Studies will be help at SUNY-Cortland on April 10, 2010. Full cfp here.
• The first annual European Conference for Critical Animal Studies will held April 23, 2010. Full information here.
• A special panel call for papers on British Romantic Period Animals entitled “Pets and Meat”, for NASSR, in Vancouver on Aug 18-22, 2010. Full details here.

Newspapers and Blogs:

• While not exactly an official submission to The Speculative Animal event, Levi Bryant has added two posts on his blog inspired partially by the event, here and here.
• The Guardian has an article by Ingrid Newkirk defending Peta against claims of the organization not being radical enough and being sexist. Royce and Francione have responses up.
• Stephanie Ernst has a post up arguing that the AR movement needs to stop focusing on factory farming (h/t animalblawg).
• And Jean Kazez makes the argument that vegetarianism is a good step on the way to veganism, rather than just an incoherent step that does no good.

• If you haven’t given to the Haiti cause, give!
• Cary Wolfe’s new book, What is Posthumanism?, is now available.
• The NY Times has an op-ed on the safety of ground beef (h/t Animal Ethics, click this link to see the letters to the editor).
• Victor Schonfeld, who created One Planet: Animals and Us, has an op-ed in the Guardian, “The Five Fatal Flaws in the Animal Activism.”
• Lastly, Vegans of Color have created their own round-up, you all should start checking that out as well.

• “Sentient creatures: Transforming biopolitics and life matters” has issued a call for papers a conference in Oslo in Sept. 2010. Wish I had the money to go to this one.

Blogs:

• David Cassuto outlines the broader legal implications and history of the dismissal of a suit brought upon Ringling Brothers Circus on behalf of their elephants on the basis of lack of standing.
• Vegans of Color continue to highlight the lack of connection between the animal abolition movement, and the prison abolition movement with a recent move by PeTA (though I guess one would say that PeTA is not an abolitionist movement).

Newspapers and Magazines:

• The NY Times has an article, “Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned“. (h/t Animal Ethics, click the link for reader feedback to the article).
• Also The Times has an article that scientists have declared Dolphins the second most intelligent life, and should be treated as non-human persons. For some initial responses from the AR community, see Mary Martin and David Cassuto.
• Newsweek has an article on happy meat, or vegetarians who meat, “No More Sacred Cows.” (h/t Animal Rights).

• Foucault and Animals, a book to be edited by Matthew Chrulew and Dinesh Wadiwel. Abstracts due 28th February 2010.
• Litterature & Animalite, conference at Johns Hopkins April 15-16th, 2010. Submissions due Feb. 01, 2010.

Media:

• BBC World Service to do a two-part program entitled One Planet: Animals & Us.
• Jonathan Safran Foer on The Ellen Show.

Blog Note:

• Most likely nothing new will happen on this blog until after the new year, including probably canceling next week’s roundup. So, enjoy yourselves.