Episode 5 (Part A): If We Had Glass Walls: Critical Animal Studies

This episode features Associate Professor Heather Fraser, educator and course coordinator at QUT and crew member Georgia. In the episode, Heather speaks passionately with Georgia about her research and pedagogy in the area of critical animal studies and green social work and how this has shaped her social work practice and everyday life. This discussion acknowledges the role of social work to protect and emancipate non-human animals. The social and political complexities that exist in this space such as the exploitation of non-human animals in dairy farming, the patriarchal dominance that leads to a meat-centric society (even in social work) and veganism are explored with valuable insights for students and practitioners.

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19L97-qc02kFFy8z1JIXjRzg3CCafduwGEgLF_o8I5vk/edit?usp=sharing

Key References:

Carbado, D., Crenshaw, K., Mays, V., & Tomlinson, B. (2013). INTERSECTIONALITY: Mapping the movements of a theory. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 10(2), 303-312. doi:10.1017/S1742058X13000349

Cleary, J., & Dominelli, L. (2020) Social work and disasters: Systematic literature review, main report. Stirling Scotland: University of Stirling, Faculty of Social Sciences.

Dominelli, L. (2015). The opportunities and challenges of social work interventions in disaster situations. International Social Work, 58(5), 659–672. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872815598353

Dominelli, L. (2018). The routledge handbook of green social work. Taylor & Francis Group.

Fraser, H., & Taylor, N. (2020). Insights from ecofeminist and critical animal studies in the context of neoliberalism. In C. Morley., P. Ablett., C. Noble., & S. Cowden (Eds.), The routledge handbook of critical pedagogies for social work (pp. 296-309). Taylor & Francis Group.

Riggs, D., Taylor, N., & Fraser, H. (Hosts). (2022, June). Intersectionality and social work (No. 2) [Audio podcast episode]. Spotify. Episode 2: Nik Taylor and Heather Fraser

Keywords:

Animal rights, critical animal studies, green social work, intersectionality, speciesism, exploitation and cruelty of non-human animals, patriarchy, neoliberalism, deep learning, shifting the paradigm

Music by Boe Toweh