via Zoom meeting

ANIMAL JUSTICE ACADEMY LUNCHTIME LIVE:
Academic Activism - Q&A with Angela Fernandez, Jodi Lazare, Jason Hannan, & Michael Swistara

Profs, published papers, and policy change… In this special pre-Canadian Animal Law Conference gathering, we'll have four animal activists share how they’re trying to create a better world for animals through the world of academia.

They’ll talk about the vital role scholars play in the movement, and share some of the cutting edge academic research and teaching they’re involved in around animal protection, including “quasi-personhood”, overcoming the rhetoric of the meat industry, examining the abuse of nonhuman animals in incarcerating humans, and how to fight agricultural exceptionalism.

We’ll also discuss how they navigate the pressure within the academic community to play down their activism, and find out from the professors in this crew how students are responding to the animal content in their courses.

*We invite folks to have their video on during this event to enhance the sense of community, but it’s not mandatory


Please enter your name and email address below to register for this event!

If you aren't already a member of the Animal Justice Academy and would like to sign up to get free access to the course, events, and community, select YES below!


About Our Guests: 

Angela Fernandez is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto where she is cross-appointed to the Department of History and teaches a course in animal law, as well as overseeing the production of the Brooks Animal Law Digest: Canada Edition and (in conjunction with the Bora Laskin Law Library) the Animal Law Research Guide. She is the author of Pierson v. Post, The Hunt for the Fox: Law and Professionalization in American Legal Culture (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018). Professor Fernandez is a member of the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights, Law & Policy collaborative research network BASAN (Brooks Animal Studies Academic Network) and is the inaugural scholar in the “Brooks-U” Video-Documentary Series on “Animal Law Fundamentals.” She is also on the Board of Advisors and is a Director of Animal Justice Canada.

Jodi Lazare is an assistant professor at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. She teaches and researches in the areas of Family Law, Animals and the Law, and Constitutional Law. As a law student, Jodi worked in both small and large private practice. Jodi completed her articles as a law clerk to the Honourable Mr. Justice Michael Moldaver at the Supreme Court of Canada. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

 

Jason Hannan is Associate Professor in the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, & Communications at the University of Winnipeg. He is the editor of Meatsplaining: The Animal Agriculture Industry and the Rhetoric of Denial (Sydney University Press, 2020). His current animal-related book project is New White Saviours: The Colonial Mythology of Meat, which explores the meat industry’s violent history of ethnic cleansing and ecological imperialism. Each fall, he teaches a course called the Rhetoric of Animality, which examines how Western religion, culture, and society reinforces human power and domination over animals. Dr. Hannan is also Chair of Winnipeg VegFest, the largest vegan and animal rights festival in Manitoba.

Michael Swistara (he/him) is a recent graduate of The George Washington University where he received a joint law and public policy degree. During law school, Michael served as the President of the GW Law Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and last year he was an Emerging Scholars Fellow with the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. His academic work focuses primarily on farmed animal protection and the intersection of animal law with other social justice movements. His scholarly work has appeared in the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, the Animal Law Review, the University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review, and various American Bar Association publications. Outside of academia, Michael has worked at organizations like Mercy For Animals and Animal Outlook, drafted local animal protection bills, lobbied city officials, and pushed for change in his school and city communities to make them more vegan and animal friendly. Michael is also a proud adoptive father to his adorable cat companion, Matilda.