Social Ties in Animal Politics: Mutuality Beyond Humanity

Social and political relationships constitute the foundation of our shared communities. Yet, scholars working in the field of animal politics have not had these social ties as their primary focus. They have predominately highlighted the systematic injustice and exploitation that blight many of our relationships with nonhuman animals. This body of work has argued extensively for the rights of animals to fair treatment and political representation.

Although crucial, a focus on injustice leaves out the question of whether the numerous relational concepts traditionally reserved for human society — such as civic friendship, trust, and solidarity — can be meaningfully extended to nonhuman animals. The project of identifying and theorising injustice continues to be important, but a positive vision of what a just interspecies community would look like necessitates engagement with social ties. To reimagine and build a multispecies political community that works for us all, we must begin exploring the actual, lived quality of the social and political relationships that bind humans and animals together, or set us apart.

To that end, this conference seeks to investigate the everyday reality of coexistence with animals by exploring the diverse range of social, political, and institutional relationships between us. By thinking about the limits and potential of existing interspecies encounters, we hope to unearth the conceptual and critical resources needed to rethink our shared social and political life with animals.

Doing so requires us to engage with the idea that we are co-participants who share in social ties with nonhuman others. But there are profound challenges to any possible vision of mutuality beyond humanity. For example, can the inescapable asymmetries in power, or the significant communicative and epistemic barriers between species, be overcome to realise a genuine interspecies politics?

We will bring together scholars of animal ethics, animal politics, and cognate disciplines to explore these and related questions, including but not limited to:

• In what ways do human-animal social relationships contribute to a flourishing political community? How do these relationships serve individual and collective interests in health, happiness, and community?

• Can positive relational concepts like civic friendship or co-citizenship be meaningfully extended to non-human animals? Are interspecies relations of trust, civility, and tolerance possible?

• How, if at all, should negative relational concepts like aggression, incivility, or contempt be applied to animals? If animals can be our companions and our friends, can they also be our enemies?

• Is interspecies solidarity possible? Can humans and animals have mutual goodwill towards one another?  Can we have alliances with animals?

• Why might mutuality with domesticated animals differ from with wild animals? Should we pursue relationships with wild animals, or is mutuality undesirable? On what terms might it be acceptable?

• Can humans and animals engage in mutually creative and cultural relationships? Can humans and animals play, learn and co-create?

• Are relations of mutuality possible if there are profound asymmetries in power and cognitive ability between humans and animals? Can farmers, for example, be friends with those animals that they exploit? Can humans be friends with mice?

• How do the concepts of love and care challenge or complicate traditional ways of thinking about justice for animals? 

• How should ethical theory account for the inherent dangers and exploitation present in many human-animal relationships, even those defined by intimacy? Can animals be exploited? Do animals have an interest in noninferiority?

• How might emerging technologies facilitate, improve or harm relationships with animals? How, if at all, should AI be used to transform relationships with animals? How might animals need protection from these developments?

This is the latest in a series of longstanding annual ‘Animal Politics’ conferences. Details on past events (since 2010) can be found here: https://josh-milburn.com/animal-politics/ 

Organisers: Alasdair Cochrane (University of Sheffield); Steve Cooke (University of Leicester); Sara van Goozen (University of York); Josh Milburn (Loughborough University); Angie Pepper (Roehampton University); Matt Perry (University of Sheffield).

Please send anonymised abstracts of no more than 300 words to [email protected] by end of day Friday 12th June. Please include your name and affiliation in the body of your email. Abstracts should be suitable for a 30 minute presentation and will be subject to a blind review process. Successful proposals will be notified by 30th June.

There are no fees to attend, but please register or submit an abstract by emailing the organisers. Refreshments and a buffet lunch will be provided. This conference is gratefully funded by a Mind Association Conference Grant, as well as a contribution from a Wellcome Trust grant on Multispecies Mutualisms held at the University of Sheffield.

We are committed to making the event welcoming for everyone by adhering to the BPA/SWiP Guidelines for Accessible Conferences and the BPA/SWiP Good Practice Scheme. For more information, please get in touch with the organisers.