Critical Animal Pedagogy: Explorations toward Reflective Practice

by Karin Gunnarson Dinke

This talk explores what an education that challenges the reduction of human-animal relations to modes of production and consumption might look like in practice. Drawing on “Critical Animal Pedagogies: Re- Learning our Relations with Animal Others” (Gunnarsson Dinker & Pedersen, forthcoming), which outlines a theoretical basis for critical animal pedagogy based on themes such as the place of animals and affect in education, species-inclusive intersectionality education and social change, the animal-industrial complex and vegan education, and the concept of “interspecies education” developed by Andrzejewski, Pedersen & Wicklund (2009), the talk seeks to delineate a critically reflective practice for transformative teaching and learning in the field of critical animal studies. The above texts are further contextualized and deepened through a comparative reading of Cole & Stewart (2014).  Interwoven in the exploration are also reflections made by the talk authors on practical experiences in critical animal pedagogies, including primary and secondary levels, as well as higher education.


Biography:
Karin Gunnarsson Dinker is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Geography, Swansea University. The working title of her thesis is ”Exploring the concepts and practicalities of ’use’ and ’respect’ in relation to animals: case studies in Swedish primary education”. Her research interests include Critical Animal Studies, Children's Rights, Critical geographies and education. She is trained as a secondary teacher and journalist and has worked with various organizations in the fields of animal rights, international solidarity and environmental activism.