Questioning the Centrality of Suffering in Animal Welfare Advocacy: A Historical Perspective

Questioning the Centrality of Suffering in Animal Welfare Advocacy: A Historical Perspective

This seminar is part of the Animal Matters Seminar Series presented by Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy: https://vet.tufts.edu/center-animals-and-public-policy and Office of Continuing Education Programs: https://vet.tufts.edu/continuing-education-programs.

Contemporary animal activists have treated Jeremy Bentham's famous reformulation of subjecthood—“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” as a touchstone for their work. And indeed, many animals experience tremendous suffering in our anthropocentric world; and many changes are needed to enable the flourishing of more-than-human beings. But there is a cost to the movement's focus on suffering. Taking the American humane movement in the early twentieth century and its relationship to eugenics as a case study, this talk argues for deeper consideration of the violence that sometimes accompanies our care for animals.

Kat Poje is a faculty fellow in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University. She is a historian of science who works at the intersections of the history of science, environmental studies, and disability studies. Her research examines dynamics of violence and care in multispecies relationships, and she is currently finishing a monograph, entitled Merciful Destruction, on the history of animal euthanasia in the United States. Kat holds a PhD in the History of Science from Harvard University and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School.

Members of the public are invited to attend this seminar at no charge.

Made possible by the generous support of the Elizabeth A. Lawrence Endowed Fund: https://vet.tufts.edu/center-animals-and-public-policy/elizabeth-lawrence-endowed-fund.

This event is good for one non-medical interactive CEU in all states that recognize AVMA-approved continuing education providers. A registration QR code will be posted for in person attendance.