Eating Animals Gaia Radio Call

Nicole Vosper, MSc Political Agroecology Pre-Cap Tuesday 12th May 2015

Aims of the call• To introduce the complex and dynamic

worldviews that impact on the species we share this world with, most significantly, a handful of animal species that have been domesticated, farmed and slaughtered to feed the world’s populations.

• To share my research, thinking and action learning around animal-human social relations.

• To create a safe space for conversations - supporting everyone to share their worldview, opinions & experiences.

Who I am• Vegan 13 years

• Stock-free grower / Permaculture designer

• White/privileged

• Animal liberation organiser

• Deeply embedded world views around animals

• Triggered to go vegan by family farming connections - battery hen experience

Output challenge: Open mind to world views of others, think critically, evaluate own beliefs

Who are you?

Current worldview?

First conscious experience of

animals for food

First connection with animal (not

food)

What is a worldview?

Most broadly, a worldview is a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world. It is a mental model of reality — a framework of ideas & attitudes about the world, ourselves, and life, a comprehensive system of beliefs.

!

My methodology• Literature review - especially

to support me to navigate world views different to my own

• Processing historical experiences/observations

• Tracking observations through action learning

‘Animal workers’Dr Wilkie writes how “animals can be located and relocated along a status continuum that ranges from commodity to companion, whereby the same animal may at times be seen by the same worker, or by a different worker, as a tool of the trade, a work colleague, a friend, or even a pet.”

Key point: complex & dynamic

‘Animal workers’

CarnismDr Melanie Joy:

Carnism is a belief system that conditions us to eat certain animals.

Based on the field of psychology

Carnism• How we classify an

animal • Schemas dictate what

is/isn’t edible. Protects us from discomfort.

• Invisibility • Humans always avoided

eating certain animals & sought reconciliation of those they do

Carnism• Entrenched becomes

common sense • Natural, normal, necessary • Psychological tools:

denial, avoidance, routinization, justification, objectification, deindividualisation, dichotomization, rationalisation and disassociation

Neocarnism• ‘Happy meat’, ‘Free range’, RegenAG, ‘Holistic

Management’ • Willingness to examine industrial animal agriculture • “Carnistic backlash” (Joy) • People influenced by existing carnist upbringing,

fear of loosing privilege/being in minority, personal/professional status, desire for relationships with animals, dislike for political movements for animals, gender, class, ‘softness’, authenticity e.g. ‘real’ farmer, lower status of horticulture

Capitalist• Maximisation of profit e.g

CAFOs • Accumulation of wealth • Animals as commodities • Reproductive control • Animal manipulation &

modification e.g. agricultural biotechnology, genome sequencing of animals and animal cloning

Animal Welfare• Humans have a

right/entitlement to use animals

• However they should be treated better

• Example: Five freedoms (hunger/thirst, discomfort, pain/injury/disease, express normal behaviour, fear/distress)

Animal Rights• Tom Reagon -

Intrinsic value (a value in themselves without reference to human needs)

• Speciesism is what privileges one group over another

• Peter Singer - utilitarianism (best for majority)

Abolitionists• Animals have right not to be

treated as property of others

• Against reform/improved regulation

• Veganism as moral baseline • Sentience alone • Non-violence, vegan

advocacy • Intersectional

Feminists• Both animals and women

are dominated by the same patriarchical hierarchies e.g. consumption, objectification

• Draw comparisons between the role of reproductive labour and its exploitation to serve capitalism/patriarchy

• Care/empathy/respect vs. cartesian thinking

Anarchism/Animal Liberation

• Commitment to eradicating all forms of domination & oppression

• Solidarity with non-humans • Animal agriculture played key role in

development & expansion of capitalism e.g. ‘cattle’

• Animals symbolic & physical force for colonisation

• Critique of consumerist/privileged/capitalist veganism

• State protects animal industries

How do you feel?

What do you think?What came up

for you? (Distress/connection)

So many complex world views - what is yours?

Further Resources

http://portfolios.gaiauniversity.org/view/view.php?id=7389

www.emptycagesdesign.org