This year’s conference honors the work of John Sorenson, a pioneering vegan sociologist who published many of the first articles, chapters, and books in vegan sociology and has taught some of the longest-running classes in animals and society. Sorenson is also a founder of Critical Animal Studies. Sorenson’s work explores themes of capitalism, colonialism, and intersectional resistance. Indeed, one of sociology’s key contributions to Critical Animal Studies is the structural emphasis on the state and economic exploitation. We invite presentations for the 2024 conference that align with these areas of inquiry.

 

IAVS Conference 2024 Lectures

Darren Chang
“Farmed Animal Sanctuaries, Reanimalisation, and Crises of Capitalism”

“Animal Sanctuaries–Dreams and Limitations Under Capitalism and Beyond”

Session 2: Critical Pet Studies

Marlies Bockstal
“Commodifying ‘Breed Love’: Pedigree Dog Breed Value in the Capitalist Pet Industry

Zoei Sutton & Kerry Herbert
“Complexities of Care in the Pet Industrial Complex: The Power of Passivity” 

Session 3: Specters of Carnism

Kadri Aavik
“The European Union School Milk Scheme”

Sudharsan Shrish Vijaya
“Intergenerational-Postmemorial Guilt: Carnist Paralysis in the Age of Extinction”

Erin Sullivan & Caroline Fusco
“The Big Boy Burger versus Animal and Ecological Justice”

Jane McElligott
“The Social Constructs of Capitalism, Speciesism, and Ecoterrorism”

Session 4: Sustainability

Michael Briscoe
“Working Time and Meat Consumption: Evidence for Degrowth”

Serena Girard
“Plant-based Foods and Sustainability”

Łucja Lange
“Veganism as Obvious Consequence of Degrowth and Why It Is Not Included in Degrowth Agenda?

Session 5: Vegan Communication

Chris Thill
“Beyond Meat and Memes: Mapping the Vegan Activist Discourse on Tik Tok and Instagram”

Eduardo Galo Erazo
“Framing Veganism: Narratives and Mobilization Strategies on Instagram by Six Chilean Vegan Organizations”

Session 6: Discourses of Harm

Emily Major
“Slayers, Rippers, and Blitzes: Capitalism, Speciesism, and the Narrative of Media”

Annette Jorgensen
“The ‘King Puck’ Debate: Struggles Over the Meaning of Animal Sentience, Subjectivity and Suffering in Irish Popular Media?”

Laura Fernández and Núria Almiron
“Manufactured Compassion: SECAL, Vivotecnia and the Vivisection-Industrial Complex in Spain”

Session 7: Veganism, Nationalism Identity

Corey Wrenn
“Animal Anxieties: The Interplay of Vegan Protest and Animal Nationalism in Postcolonial Ireland”

Marie-Elyse Smith
“Un-Australian: The Impact of Human Animal Agriculture on the Australian National Identity and the Otherisation of Vegans”

Loredana Loy & Rachel Wetts
“Let Them Eat Kale! Appeals to Class-based Resentment in Conservative Opposition to Climate Change Solutions”

Session 8: Perspectives on Resistance

Alex Hill
“Insect Economics: Exploring Insects as Sociological Labour Metaphors and Imagining the Proletaria(n)t Revolution”

Nathan Poirier
“A Social ‘Theory of Everything’: Veganism as Anarchism as Anti-Capitalism”

Vasile Stǎnescue
“Slaughterhouse Capitalism: Animal Resistance, ‘Effeminate Rice Eaters,’ and Solidarity as the Basis for Animal Liberation”

Session 9: Deadly Encounters

Stephen Muzzatti
“Hunting Monsters: The Wildlife Management Industry, Invasive Species and the Rhetoric of Masculinity”

Gillian M. Walters
“Capitalism, Speciesism, Colonialism and the Absent Referent: A System that Fueled the Capture and Captivity of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut”

Session 10: John Sorenson Panel

Corey Wrenn
Introduction

John Sanbonmatsu
“Rethinking Totality: John Sorenson’s Materialist Social Critique of Animal Oppression”

Richard White
“Spaces of Violence, Place of Hope: Reading Geographies of Social Justice in John Sorenson’s Work” 
Powerpoint slides

Vasile Stǎnescue
“John Sorenson & Veganism Beyond Consumerism”

David Nibert
“John Sorenson: CAS Pioneer and Movement Builder”
Powerpoint slides