The Animal Turn

In this final episode of the season Claudia talks to Amanda Bunten-Walberg and Oliver French, two fellow graduate students with interests in biosecurity. They delve into some the core themes in the season (including questions about scale, reproduction, and power) as well as some of the difficulties for thinking about biosecurity and animals.  Date Recorded: 27 January 2023 Amanda (Mandy) Bunten-Walberg (she/ her) is a PhD Candidate at Queen's University's School of Environmental Studies. Her research explores more-than-human ethics in contagious contexts through the case study of bats and COVID-19.  In particular, Mandy is interested in how more-than-human ethics, critical race theory, queer theory, and biopolitical theory might guide humans towards developing more ethical relationships with bats and other (human and more-than-human) persons who are dominantly understood as diseased. Connect with Amanda via email (19abbw@queensu.ca).  Oliver French is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of St-Andrews, working as part of the Welcome Funded Global War Against the Rat project. His BA thesis explored the production and application of eco-governmental power within Swedish National Parks. His current research develops a historical-ethnography of human-rat relations in epidemic of control during the third plague pandemic with a focus on India, where he is currently on archival fieldwork. Find out more about Oliver on the St. Andrews website.  Featured: Avian Reservoirs: Virus Hunters and Birdwatchers in Chinese Sentinel Posts by Frédéric KeckViral Economies: Bird Flu Experiments in Vietnam, by Natalie PorterSome “F” words for the environmental humanities: feralities, feminisms, futurities by Catriona SandilandsAnimal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India's Central Himalayas by Radhika GovindrajanMulberry Intimacies and the Sweetness of Kinship, by Catriona SandilandsWhat Comes after Entanglement? Activism, Anthropocentrism, and an Ethics of Exclusion by Eva Haifa GiraudA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

In this episode Claudia speaks to Nina Jamal about One Health. They discuss the changing definition of One Health and its significance for biosecurity and animals. They spend time thinking through the challenges and opportunities, particularly at the level of national and international policy.  Date Recorded: 1 December 2022 Nina Jamal is leading FOUR PAWS’ efforts on Pandemics & Animal Welfare and campaign strategies. Before taking on that role and since 2013, Nina led the International Campaigns on Farm Animals and Nutrition Campaigns. Nina has also worked in the climate movement on international policy and campaigns as well as in the private sector and UNIDO. Her background is in Environmental Health Sciences, Public Health and International Environmental Policy. Connect with Nina (@ninajamal10) and Four Paws (@fourpawsint) on Twitter. Also check out the Four Paws website (www.four-paws.org). Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email (info@theanimalturnpodcast.com) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne). Featured: How to Prevent the next Pandemic? (Brochure) By Four PawsHow to Prevent the next Pandemic? (Full Report) By Four Paws The Animal Turn is part of the  iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on A.P.P.L.E, Twitter, and Instagram Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, LawA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Claudia talks to Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka about community led conservation. They discuss her work with gorillas in Bwindi National Park and how helping them involves working together with the community through health initiatives, efforts to create better livelihoods, and paying attention to food security.   Date Recorded: 23 November 2022 Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is Founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), an award-winning NGO that protects endangered gorillas and other wildlife through One Health approaches. After graduating from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, in 1996, she established Uganda Wildlife Authority’s first veterinary department. In 2000, she did a Zoological Medicine Residency and Master in Specialized Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina Zoological Park and North Carolina State University, where masters research on disease at the human/wildlife/livestock interface led her to found CTPH in 2003. In 2015,stogether with her husband Lawrence Zikusoka, she founded Gorilla Conservation Coffee to support farmers living around habitats where gorillas are found.  She has won many awards for her work. In 2021 she was recognised by Avance Media among 100 most influential women in Africa and won the UNEP Champions of the Earth Award in the category of Science and Innovation. She is the winner of the 2022 Edinburgh Medal for her work in Planetary health and 2022 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. Gladys is also on the leadership council of Women for the Environment in Africa, Chairperson of the Africa Chapter of the Explorers Club, Vice President of the African Primatological Society, and a member of the World Health Organisation Special Advisory Group for the Origin of Novel Pathogens (WHO SAGO).  Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email (info@theanimalturnpodcast.com) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne). Featured: Walking with Gorillas: The Journey of an AA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

In this episode Claudia chats to Chi Mao Wang about “the politics of domestication” which involves talking about the global-agri food industry, the meatification of diets in east Asia, and how this has resulted in increasing biosecurity measures in Taiwan. This leads them to a discussion about the westernization of domestication and the significance of decoupling the eating of meat from ideas of civilization.  Date Recorded: 4 November 2022 Chi-Mao Wang is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, National Taiwan University. His research interests include food geographies and more-than-human geographies. He is currently undertaking research on animal geographies and food politics in East Asia, with particular attention to the management of animal life through modern scientific knowledge. He is the author of Securing participation in global pork production networks: biosecurity, multispecies entanglements, and the politics of domestication practices. You can find out more about him on his website and connect with him via Twitter (@chimaowang)  Featured: Securing participation in global pork production networks: biosecurity, multispecies entanglements, and the politics of domestication practices by Chi Mao WangA food regime genealogy , by Philip McMichaelBig Farms make Big Flu by Rob WallacePathological Lives: Disease, Space and Biopolitics by Steve Hinchliffe, Nick Bingham, John Allen, Simon CarterDomestication Gone Wild: Politics and Practices of Multispecies Relations edited by Heather Anne Swanson, Marianne Elisabeth Lien, Gro B. WeenAnimal Highlight (Salmon): Amanda contrasts the lives of salmon in farming operations with that of their wild kin. Amanda talks about the biosecurity threats in salmA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Claudia talks to Camille Labchuk about the two recent legal cases at Smithfield and Excelsior which involved animal activism on pig farms in North America. They discuss how biosecurity is used as a means of creating ag-gag laws, the relative absence of biosecurity considerations in the cases, and the legal exceptionalism animal farms enjoy in Canada.  Date Recorded: 27 October 2022 Camille Labchuk is an animal rights lawyer and executive director of Animal Justice—Canada’s only animal law advocacy organization. Under her leadership, Animal Justice fights legal cases in courtrooms across the country, works to pass ground-breaking new laws, and ensures industries are held accountable for illegal animal cruelty. Camille has litigated to advance animals’ legal interests at all levels of court, including before the Supreme Court of Canada. She regularly testifies before legislative committees, and was instrumental in passing Canada’s precedent-setting national ban on whale and dolphin captivity. She has brought constitutional cases seeking to protect the interests of animals and animal advocates; filed false advertising complaints against companies making misleading humane claims; documented Canada’s commercial seal slaughter; and exposed hidden suffering behind the closed doors of farms and zoos through undercover exposés. Camille was previously a founding board member of Mercy For Animals Canada, press secretary to the leader of a federal Canadian political party, and is a former two-time candidate for Parliament. Camille is a frequent lecturer on animal law, co-host of the Paw & Order podcast, and a regular contributor to national publications like the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. She is a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. Connect with Camille on Twitter (@CamilleLabchuk) Featured:  Animal Advocacy or Animal Agriculture? Disease Outbreaks and Biosecurity Failures on Canadian Farms by Animal Justice  Animal Highlight: Lily and Lizzy In this highlight, Amanda focuses on the two pigs who were at the center of the Smithfield case, Lily and Lizzy. She talks about pigs’ incredible social worlds, the conditions LiA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Claudia talks to Thomas Hartung about animal testing in pharmacology and toxicology. They discuss how animal testing involves a weighing of values as well as some of the disruptive technologies that are providing alternatives to animal testing – including stem cell technologies and artificial intelligence.   Date Recorded: 5 October 2022 Thomas Hartung, MD PhD, is the Doerenkamp-Zbinden-Chair for Evidence-based Toxicology in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, with a joint appointment at the Whiting School of Engineering. He also holds a joint appointment for Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Bloomberg School. He is adjunct affiliate professor at Georgetown University, Washington D.C.. In addition, he holds a joint appointment as Professor for Pharmacology and Toxicology at University of Konstanz, Germany; he also is Director of Centers for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) of both universities. CAAT hosts the secretariat of the Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration and manages collaborative programs on Good Read-Across Practice, Good Cell Culture Practice, Green Toxicology, Developmental Neurotoxicity, Developmental Immunotoxicity, Microphysiological Systems and Refinement. As PI, he headed the Human Toxome project funded as an NIH Transformative Research Grant and the series of annual Microphysiological Systems World Summits starting in 2022 by 52 organizations. He is Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. He is the former Head of the European Commission’s Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), Ispra, Italy, and has authored more than 620 scientific publications with more than 41,000 citations (h-index 105). His toxicology classes on COURSERA had more than 15,000 active learners. Connect with Thomas on Twitter (@ToxmasHartung). Featured: Toxicology for the twenty-first century by Thomas HartungA Roadmap for the Development of Alternative (Non-Animal) Methods for Systemic Toxicity Testing By David Basketter et al Study Illustrates A Quicker And Less Expensive Way To Explore Gene-Plus-Environment Causes Of Autism Spectrum Disorder And Other Conditions via John Hopkins A Johns Hopkins collaboration has demonstrated that the novel coronA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Claudia talks to Christos Lynteris, an anthropologist with a long history of researching some of the interconnections between animals and disease. In this episode they focus on rats and the third plague pandemic highlighting how rats went from being understood as in relation to others to being cemented as a vilified species in the spread of disease.    Date Recorded: 29 September 2022 Christos Lynteris is Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. His research focuses on the anthropological and historical examination of epidemics and has pioneered the field of the anthropological study of zoonotic diseases. His most recent book is Visual Plague: The Emergence of Epidemic Photography (MIT Press, 2022). He was also a co-author of Sulphuric Utopias: A History of Maritime Fumigation and co-editor of Plague and the City. He is also the leader of the project “The Global War Against the Rat and the Epistemic Emergence of Zoonosis” which you can read more about here. Connect with Christos on Twitter (@VisualPlague) or via the St Andrew’s website (here).  Featured: Visual Plague: The Emergence of Epidemic Photography by Christos Lynteris “Scurrying seafarers: shipboard rats, plague, and the land/sea border” by Jules Skotnes-BrownSulfuric Utopias: A History of Maritime Fumigation by Lukas Engelmann and Christos Lynteris Mahamari Plague: Rats, Colonial Medicine and Indiegnous Knowledge in Kumaon and Garwal, India by Christos LynterisThe PasteurizatiA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Claudia talks to Lauren van Patter about the concepts of feral and invasive species. They touch on the differences between the two concepts and consider how issues of colonization, reproduction, and human control lead to the categorization of some animals as biosecurity threats.  Date Recorded: 21 September 2022 Dr. Lauren Van Patter is the Kim & Stu Lang Professor in Community and Shelter Medicine in the Department of Clinical Studies at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. Lauren is an interdisciplinary animal studies researcher with a background in Environmental Sciences and Cultural Geographies. She has researched urban coyotes and feral cats in Canadian cities as well as free roaming dogs in rural Botswana. Lauren is a co-editor of the volume ‘A Research Agenda for Animal Geographies’, and has published in peer-reviewed Veterinary, Animal Studies, Geography, African Studies, and Wildlife Management journals. Connect with Lauren on Twitter (@levanpatter) or on her website.  Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email (info@theanimalturnpodcast.com) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne). Featured: Animal Liberation by Peter Singer; Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights by Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson ; Managing Love and Death at the Zoo: The Biopolitics of Endangered Species Preservation by Matthew Chrulew; Anishnaabe Aki: an indigenous perspective on the global threat of invasive species by Nicholas Reo and Laura Ogden; Managing Love and Death at the Zoo: The Biopolitics of Endangered Species Preservation by Mathew Chrulew ; Some “F” words for the environmental humanities: feralities, feminisms, futurities by Catriona SandilandsAnimal Highlight: CrabsFeatured: Crab by Cynthia ChrisThe Animal Turn is part of the  iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on AA.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

In this episode Claudia talks to Jeff Sebo about bioethics and how it straddles both health and environmental ethics. They touch on some of the grounding principles of bioethics and how these principles frequently neglect to account for animals. They further discuss why a consideration of animals is necessary to achieve health and environmental justice. Date Recorded: 16 August 2022 Jeff Sebo is Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Animal Studies M.A. Program, Director of the Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program  at New York University. He is author of Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves (Oxford University Press, 2022), co-author of Chimpanzee Rights (Routledge, 2018) and Food, Animals, and the Environment (Routledge, 2018). He is also an executive committee member at the NYU Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, an advisory board member at the Animals in Context series at NYU Press, a board member at Minding Animals International, a mentor at Sentient Media, and a senior research affiliate at the Legal Priorities Project. Find out more about Jeff on his website or connect with him on Twitter (@jeffrsebo)  Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email (info@theanimalturnpodcast.com) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne). Featured: Saving Animals: Saving Ourselves by Jeff Sebo; Animals and Public Health by Aysha AkhtarAnimal Highlight: Flying Foxes  A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.International Women's Podcasting AwardsThe Animal Turn is proud to have been shortlisted in the International Women's Podcasting Awards. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Claudia launches season 5 of The Animal Turn with a conversation on biosecurity with Steve Hinchliffe, a renowned geographer. They discuss how biosecurity is centered on the idea of keeping life safe and how this often operates through spatial logics of trying to keep threats out. They touch on how animals are often blamed for biosecurity threats, questions about whose lives are kept safe, and the various walling work that is done under the banner of biosecurity.  Date Recorded: 21 September 2022 Steve Hinchliffe is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Exeter, UK and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His books include Pathological Lives (2016, Wiley Blackwell) and Humans, animals and biopolitics: The more than human condition (2016, Routledge). He currently works on a number of interdisciplinary projects on disease, biosecurity and drug resistant infections, focusing on Europe and Asia.  He is a member of the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health at Exeter, and sits on the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Exotic Diseases and on the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Science Advisory Group’s Social Science Expert Group. Find out more about Steve on Exeter’s website.  Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email (info@theanimalturnpodcast.com) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne). Featured: For Space, by Doreen Massey; Walled States, Waning Sovereignty, by Wendy Brown; Cow, a movie directed by Lin Gallagher; Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the nature of feeling good by Jonathan Balcombe; A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.Biosecurities Research CollectiveThe Biosecurities and Urban Governance Research brings together scholars interested in biosecurity.iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website. Leave a Review on Podchaser Check out The Animal Turn Merch. Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.