Episode 35: John Sanbonmatsu discusses how bad faith perpetuates the ideological system of speciesism

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with John Sanbonmatsu, Associate Professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. John is the editor of the book Critical Theory and Animal Liberation and the author of The Postmodern Prince: Critical Theory, Left Strategy, And The Making Of A New Political Subject. You may remember that John was previously a guest on Episode 25 of the show to speak about why vegans shouldn't promote lab-grown "meat".

I interviewed John for this week's episode about a book chapter that he wrote, titled “The Animal of Bad Faith: Speciesism as an Existential Project”, which was published in a 2014 anthology (edited by John Sorenson) called Critical Animal Studies: Thinking the Unthinkable. In his chapter, John Sanbonmatsu makes the case that speciesism is not simply a prejudice due to ignorance; instead, speciesism is an ideological system that holds "[a]bsolute, total violence" as its "innermost logic".

On this week's show, John discusses how bad faith upholds speciesism in society, why speciesism is an existential project, and what implications this has for the animal rights movement. He also speaks about Critical Animal Studies, why animal rights activism should be a part of a broader leftist project, and why we need to continue being activists despite the obstacles to our success.

Lots of important topics were discussed in this interview. I hope you'll listen in!

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/48817.html.
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-august-26-2020.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site. 

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Episode 34: Justin Van Kleeck speaks about providing sanctuary for chickens

Logo of Microsanctuary Resource Center (microsanctuary.org)

Welcome to Episode 34 of Always for Animal Rights!

Today's episode features an interview with Justin Van Kleeck, co-founder of Triangle Chicken Advocates sanctuary, co-founder of Microsanctuary Resource Center, and founder of the total liberation blog Striving with Systems.

In this interview, Justin speaks to me about their experiences providing sanctuary for chickens, and they tell the stories of some of the chickens who have lived at the sanctuary. These stories clearly demonstrate some of the many harms caused by "backyard" and "free-range" chicken exploitation. Justin also explains what the term "microsanctuary" means, what the core principles of the microsanctuary movement are, and how running a sanctuary has enriched their understanding of animal rights and veganism. We also briefly discuss the importance of veganism in the animal rights movement.

At the end of the show, we hear the song "One Species" by the band xTRUE NATUREx.

Thanks to Justin for being a guest on the show!

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/48625.html.
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-august-5-2020.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site. 

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Bonus episode: What is the International Associaton of Vegan Sociologists?

This week, I am pleased to present a shorter bonus episode in addition to the usual longer episode.

In this bonus episode, the vegan sociologist Corey Lee Wrenn returns to the show to tell me about the new organization that she co-founded, the International Association of Vegan Sociologists. She explains what led her and Zoei Sutton to start this organization, and she gives some information about the association's upcoming conference. The conference is called Worldly Togetherness? Showcasing sociological contributions to understanding multispecies entanglements. I look forward to attending; it sounds fascinating.

Tickets for the conference are now sold out. However, anyone will be able to watch/listen to the presentations online afterwards!

Thanks to Corey for the second interview.

Please consider reading some of Corey's work; you can find all of her academic journal articles for free on her website. Also, my first interview with Corey Lee Wrenn on Episode 14 was one of the most popular interviews I've published so far, so you might want to listen to that one after this episode!
  
How to listen to this episode

1. You can find this episode on Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-august-5-bonus-episode.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site. 

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!