Wednesday 26 July 2023

Episode 97: Interview with animal rights author Joan Dunayer about speciesism and language

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with the writer and animal rights advocate Joan Dunayer, who has been a vegan since 1989. Joan is the author of two books: Animal Equality: Language and Liberation, published in 2001, and Speciesism, published in 2004. Additionally, a number of her essays about speciesism and language have appeared in anthologies and other publications, including the books Critical Animal and Media Studies (edited by Núria Almiron, Matthew Cole, Carrie P. Freeman) and Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations (edited by Carol J. Adams and Josephine Donovan), among others.

In this interview, Joan tells me about what led her to become a vegan and write her first book. She describes what speciesism is, how it manifests in everyday language use, how we can challenge speciesism through language, and how speciesism and sexism are connected through derogatory language. She also speaks about the moral status of insects; speciesist attitudes within the animal advocacy movement; and the legal rights that she advocates nonhuman animals ought to have.

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/553/61427.html.
  2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-july-26-2023.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 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: Vegan sociologist David Nibert's 2016 speech, "From Genghis Khan to Wall Street: Oppression of Other Animals, War, and Capitalism"

Recently on the FM airwaves, we listened to a talk by the long-time activist, sociologist, university professor, and author David Nibert. David presented this talk, which is titled, “From Genghis Khan to Wall Street: Oppression of Other Animals, War, and Capitalism”, at the World Vegan Summit & Expo in 2016. The topics that he spoke about in this speech are covered in greater detail in his third book, Animal Oppression and Human Violence: Domesecration, Capitalism, and Global Conflict.

At the end of the episode is the song "What if..." by the abolitionist vegan advocate Gülce Özen Gürkan.

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/553/61315.html.
  2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-july-18-2023.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 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!