110: "Bringing individual animals into the frame" - Author & Ethnographer Kathryn Gillespie - Sentientism

May 6, 2022

Kathryn Gillespie, a writer, ethnographer, and geographer, discusses the harms experienced by animals in the food system. She focuses on individual animals and their stories, as well as the exploitative nature of farms and auction yards. The intersection of violence and care in sanctuary animals is explored, along with the concept of reality and the challenges of transitioning to veganism. The importance of expanding moral consideration beyond humans and exploring non-human animal ethics is discussed. The podcast also touches on grief in orcas, empathy for non-human animals, transitioning away from animal agriculture, and the significance of key questions.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

Sanctuary Animals and the Intersection of Violence and Care

04:25 • 19min

Exploring the Concept of Reality

23:50 • 23min

Transitioning to Veganism and Overcoming Challenges

46:47 • 3min

Expanding Moral Consideration Beyond Humans

49:34 • 24min

Exploring Non-Human Animal Ethics

01:13:56 • 4min

Grief and Resilience in the Endangered Southern Resident Pod of Orcas

01:17:53 • 5min

Anthropomorphism, Anthropocentrism, and Empathy

01:22:55 • 13min

Transitioning away from animal agriculture

01:36:22 • 16min

Reflecting on the Importance of Key Questions and Connecting with the Speaker

01:52:16 • 3min

Kathryn Gillespie PhD (kathrynagillespie.com) is a writer, multispecies ethnographer, & feminist geographer. She is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Geography & the Applied Environmental & Sustainability Studies Program. Her research & teaching interests focus on: ethnography & qualitative methods; feminist & multi-species theory & methods; food & agriculture; political economy; critical animal studies; human-environment relations. She is the author of The Cow with Ear Tag #1389. She has also published in numerous scholarly journals & has co-edited three books: Vulnerable Witness: The Politics of Grief in the Field; Critical Animal Geographies: Politics, Intersections and Hierarchies in a Multispecies World; and Economies of Death: Economic Logics of Killable Life & Grievable Death. Kathryn has volunteered with Freedom Education Project Puget Sound, Food Empowerment Project and Pigs Peace Sanctuary.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube .

We discuss:

00:00 Welcome

01:15 Kathryn's Intro

- Understanding the harms animals experience under capitalist & settler colonial regimes, particularly in food systems

- "Bringing individual animals into the frame"

- Field work in farms & auction yards "spaces of exploitation"

- Sanctuaries: Seeing the lasting harms of exploitation but also "places to imagine flourishing" & rehabilitation

- Multi-species auto-ethnography. Everyday violence & care

- Living w/chickens "turned us vegan" & lab-rescued beagles

- Academia & activism

07:52 What's Real?

- Raised somewhat in the Episcopal church

- "That just did not resonate with me"

- Visiting Baptist churches "that was incredible... a joyful explosion of faith"

- A Buddhist grandmother & "Living Buddha, Living Christ" by Thich Nhat Hanh

- Practising Tibetan Buddhism as a teenager

- Buddhist compassion & Episcopalian blessing of animals on St. Francis' day

- Supernatural vs. naturalistic Buddhism "The supernatural stuff never appealed to me"

- Envying the pure, comforting faith of a fundamentalist Christian best friend

- Compassion for the other or because god tells you?

- Pagan & Wiccan practics

- People re-connecting with nature during COVID

- The etymology of "real" in Latin/Sanksrit from "wealth"... the capitalisation/commodification of life

- Emotional, embodied, lived experiences re: meaning, connection & knowledge making. Another form of evidence

32:10 What Matters?

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.

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Thanks Graham.