Figuring Praxis in Critical Animal Studies

Despite widening global awareness of the routine abuse and mistreatment of nonhuman animals, the number of animals being exploited, tortured, and killed has increased dramatically. What are the greatest obstacles to progress in animal liberation? What are the movement’s greatest opportunities? Have animal rights campaigns and Animal Studies (broadly defined) responded to the current carnage, or retreated to academicism? In past political struggles, literature and the visual arts have played a significant role in galvanizing mass consciousness; what do animal rights writing and art look like today? Our panel will broadly examine these challenges and critically explore what currently figures as “praxis” in Animal Studies.