The animals, nature & society research stream brings together academics and postgraduate researchers from the College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice interested in multispecies approaches to building social systems and processes (such as law). This work expands the centre’s focus on human rights by considering both humans and non-humans, and by considering rights and alternatives to rights such as those emerging from feminist theories of care. We are a fast-growing community of researchers with an exciting array of research projects, events, publications, and presentations to inspire more consideration of animals and nature in our legal and other social systems.
Researchers
- Dr Iyan Offor (Stream Lead)
- Dr Love Alfred
- Mr Samuel Hazle
- Ms Frida Hernandez Pena
- Ms Carley Lightfoot
- Dr Philip Oamen
- Dr Emma Scali
- Ms Michelle Strauss
About
This research stream is organized around and responds to the following overarching question:
How can social systems and processes (such as law) be theorized and practiced in a multispecies way, that fundamentally notices and reacts to the signals made by non-human nature (both sentient and non-sentient), and that recognizes human society as a component of nature, not a departure from it?
This research stream operates in the context of the Anthropocene (a geological epoch in which human interference with Earth processes is permanently altering the Earth’s stratigraphy). It also operates with the assumption that the contemporary and increasingly recurring crises within nature and society are intertwined, and are caused in large part by human action, institutions, and social organization.
This research stream employs interdisciplinary methods to investigate social institutions and practices (primarily law) through the lenses of, amongst other things, critical posthumanism, intersectionality studies, and legal geography. It employs knowledge from multiple disciplines (including political science, social sciences, and the arts) to deepen our understanding of human nature as it manifests through and influences our social and legal practices across the globe. Our research introduces multispecies perspectives and Anthropocene priorities to research on animals, nature and society, aiming at investigating and proposing radical alternatives to our present social and environmental realities that decentre the human in legal and other systems.
Our work contributes to research in areas including critical animal studies, environmental constitutionalism, and posthuman legalities. It includes advocacy in the areas of animal rights and rights for nature, the contribution of deep theoretical reflections to key environmental policy actors, engagement with political processes and policymaking in the areas of global animal law and global environmental law, and the growth of global networks in this area.
