CFP: MANCEPT 2019 Workshop: Just Animals? The Future of the Political Turn in Animal Ethics

We invite submission of abstracts for a workshop entitled 'Just Animals? The Future of the Political Turn in Animal Ethics', which will take place at the MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory at the University of Manchester, England, from 9-11 September 2019. Selected speakers will have an hour to present their paper, including Q&A.

Please note that speakers will have to register for the conference; this year’s fees are £230.00 for academics and £135.00 for graduate students and retirees. Bursaries are potentially available for current graduate students/early-career researchers and retirees.

To submit a paper, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to the workshop convenors – Eva Meijer ([email protected]), Josh Milburn ([email protected]), and Angie Pepper ([email protected]) – by 15 May. Selected speakers will be notified by the end of May. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the convenors.

Workshop Abstract

In the last 15 years, there have been a series of high-profile works of political philosophy exploring animal ethics. This “political turn” in animal ethics has been much commented upon, and there is now a considerable literature of monographs, edited collections, special issues, articles, and reviews. There is even a dedicated journal: Politics and Animals. In a 2019 comment on Alasdair Cochrane’s Sentientist Politics in that journal, Siobhan O’Sullivan argued that that the book’s publication “points to a maturing of the field. Not so long ago it was thrilling to think that any politically trained scholar might turn their attention to animal questions. With the publication of Sentientist Politics, we see so-called political turn scholars beginning the gradual process of specialisation, with some focusing on political philosophy and others turning their attention to more applied, policy-driven puzzles.”

The political turn in animal ethics has come of age. We thus convene this workshop to ask, looking forward and looking back: Where next? Questions to be explored at the workshop concern practical and theoretical questions about animals in moral, political, and legal theory. They include, but are not limited to:

• New directions for the political turn in animal ethics: new disciplines, new questions, new theoretical frameworks.
• The relationship between the political and moral faces of animal ethics; bringing together moral and political thinking on animals.
• Animals and real-world politics: party politics, protest and activism, legal change; applications and applicability of the political turn in animal ethics.
• The relationship of the political turn to other animal-focussed disciplines: Animal studies, critical animal studies, animal law, vegan studies, etc.
• Animals and how to do political theory: non-ideal theory, ideal theory, political realism, etc.
• Animals and other emancipatory movements: gender, race, ability, age, sexuality, indigeneity, class, future generations, environment, etc.
• Animals and political inclusion: The “wild”/domestic divide, wild-animal suffering, and other “overlooked” animals.

Confirmed Speakers

Convenors: Dr Eva Meijer (Communication, Philosophy, and Technology, Wageningen University and Research Centre); Dr Josh Milburn (Department of Politics, University of York); Dr Angie Pepper (Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham).

Confirmed speakers include, in addition to the convenors: Dr Charlotte E. Blattner (Harvard Law School); Dr Alasdair Cochrane (Department of Politics, University of Sheffield); Dr Steve Cooke (Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester); Dr Catia Faria (Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society, University of Minho); Professor Robert Garner (Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester); Dr David Killoren (Institute for Religion & Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University); Dr Angela K. Martin (Department of Philosophy, University of Fribourg); Dr Yewande Okuleye (Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester); Susana Pickett (Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester).