New Directions in Animal Advocacy

10-11 December 2018 – Call for Papers

The Human Animal Research Network of the University of Sydney invites participation in the New Directions in Animal Advocacy conference in late 2018.

Animal advocacy organisations have increasingly been developing networks to exchange practical and experiential lessons on advocacy, but often with the exclusion of scholarship. The study of human-animal relations has undergone a “political turn” in recent years with specific focus on linking ethical ideas to political practices and institutional. This has created an opportunity for animal rights, animal law and welfare policy-making to reconnect strongly with their roots in social movements and political practice.

The aim of this conference is to examine (re)new(ed) practices in the field of animal advocacy in Australasia and more broadly. The conference is a focused event, looking to enrich scholarship and link participants together. It will look at new:

§  forms of advocacy practice at the strategic and tactical levels

§  types of relationships in advocacy networks, and between different types of political actors

§  topics of concern for animal advocacy and the implications of these new subject

§  areas for advocacy practice and human-animal relations more broadly

The event will form the basis for a collected work on the topic, to be published in 2019, and both scholars and practitioners are warmly invited to participate.
Invited Keynote Speakers

§  Associate Professor Carrie P. Freeman, Georgia State University and author of Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights.

§  Ms Glenys Oogjes, Executive Director, Animals Australia.

§  Dr Peter Chen, The University of Sydney and author of Animal Welfare in Australia: Politics and Policy.

Abstract submission
Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to Dr Peter John Chen at peter.chen@sydney.edu.au byExtended until Friday 31st August 2018

Sessions will consist of 20 minute presentations, with 10 minutes for discussion per paper.  Selected papers from the conference will be published in a special issue of the Animal Studies Journal.

Themes
Suggested themes include:

§  emerging animal advocacy issues

§  political analysis of existing animal advocacy campaigns

§  media and communication strategies

§  tactics and strategy

§  the politics of animal rights and welfare

§  social and multispecies justice

§  environmental justice and animals

§  intersectionality, and the politics of race

§  collaborations between animal advocacy and other social movements

§  feminist political approaches to animal advocacy

§  the politics of food – food sovereignty, food security and veganism

§  capitalism and markets

About HARN
The Human Animal Research Network was formed in 2011 at the University of Sydney. It is a cross-faculty research group and an important contributor to the field of Animal Studies, both in Australia and internationally. This field of study serves as a bridge between the social sciences and sciences.
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/research/harn/