Book Launch (Global Animal Law from the Margins, Dr Iyan Offor) + Book Fair

Book Launch for Global Animal Law from the Margins by Dr Iyan Offor + Mini Book Fair on Law, Social and Criminal Justice

Dr Iyan Offor, expert on animals, nature, social justice and law, discusses his new book and how marginalised groups have much to offer the animal justice movement. A group of expert authors share exciting insights from their recently published works on law, social and criminal justice.

This event will take place at Café Artum, based at Hockley Social Club.

Organised by the College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice at Birmingham City University

About this Event

Join us for an exciting two-part event featuring: (1) the launch of Dr Iyan Offor’s book Global Animal Law from the Margins: International Trade in Animals and their Bodies, and (2) a mini book fair showcasing ground-breaking research published by academics working on law, social and criminal justice at Birmingham City University.

Book Launch

The first part of this event will see Dr Offor engage with expert panellists on the contents of his new book’s bold engagement with global animal law from the perspective of an intersectional ethical framework. Reconceptualising global animal law, the book argues that global animal law overrepresents views from the West as it does not sufficiently engage views from the Global South, as well as from Indigenous and other marginalised communities. Tracing this imbalance to the early development of animal law’s reaction to issues of international trade, the book elicits the anthropocentrism and colonialism that underpin this bias. In response, the book outlines a new, intersectional, second wave of animal ethics. Incorporating marginalised viewpoints, it elevates the field beyond the dominant concern with animal welfare and rights. And, drawing on aspects of decolonial thought, earth jurisprudence, intersectionality theory and posthumanism, it offers a fundamental rethinking of the very basis of global animal law.

• Chair: Dr Friso Jansen, Senior Lecturer in Law, Birmingham City University
• Author: Dr Iyan Offor, Senior Lecturer in Law, Birmingham City University

Confirmed panellists:

Dr Stacy Banwell, Associate Professor of Criminology, University of Greenwich. Dr Banwell’s present research explores multi-species violence, specifically conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence, as well as the relationship between climate change and gender-based violence. Her third book is on intersectionality, climate change, and atrocity crimes.

Ms Carley Lightfoot, Lecturer in Law, Birmingham City University. Ms Lightfoot is an academic specialising in animal law. Her PhD, being the first Modern Law Review sponsored PhD in Animal Law, considers animal experimentation in the UK, delving into both the practical implementation of the legislation and the complex ethical considerations surrounding this issue.

Ms Paula Sparks, Chairperson and Trustee, UK Centre for Animal Law. Ms Sparks’ legal charity has a mission to achieve a better legal framework for animals, to see existing animal protection laws being applied properly, and to promote knowledge and education about the law relating to animal protection. Ms Sparks is also a visiting lecturer on animal law and policy at the University of Winchester, and had a fruitful career as a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers.

Mini Book Fair

The second part of this event will see a group of expert authors share key insights from their recently published works on law, social and criminal justice. Themes explored include civilian deaths in the Iraq war, migration in Europe, dark tourism, black female queer identity, sovereign debt and neoliberalism, and problem-solving in policing.

• Chairs: Dr Friso Jansen and Dr Iyan Offor

Authors (Birmingham City University)

Dr Lily Hamourtziadou, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Security Studies. Author of Body Count: The War on Terror and Civilian Deaths in Iraq. Lily Hamourtziadou’s investigation into civilian victims during the conflicts that followed the US-led coalition’s 2003 invasion of Iraq provides important new perspectives on the human cost of the War on Terror. From early fighting to the withdrawal and return of coalition troops, the Arab Spring and the rise of ISIS, the book explores the scale and causes of deaths and places them in the contexts of power struggles, US foreign policy and radicalisation. Casting fresh light on not just the conflict but international geopolitics and the history of Iraq, it constructs a unique and insightful human security approach to war.

Dr Nathan Kerrigan, Lecturer in Sociology. Author of Rural-Migration Nexus. This edited collection examines the global-rural relationship of migration that shapes rural places. It does this by acknowledging that to understand the impact of the international migration-global nexus, it is essential to explore how it is experienced at a local level - in the context of this book, rural regions. The edited collection does this by focusing on agribusiness and rural development, as well as the othering of international migrants and the shifting boundaries of belonging in rural spaces, identifying a rural-migration nexus where the relationship between international migration and localised rural spaces are mutually constitutive.

Dr Adam Lynes, Reader in Criminology and Mr Craig Kelly, Lecturer in Criminology. Authors of 50 Dark Destinations: Crime and Contemporary Tourism. From the Alcatraz East Crime Museum and Jack the Ripper guided tours to the Phnom Penh killing fields, ‘dark tourism’ is now a multi-million-pound global industry. Even in the most pleasant tourist destinations, underlying harms are constantly perpetuated, affecting both consumers and those who work or live around such tourist hotspots. Highlighting 50 travel destinations across six continents, expert criminologists, psychologists and historians explore the past and contemporary issues which we often disregard during our everyday leisure. This captivating book is the ‘go-to’ guide for anyone interested in crime and deviance-related tourism. Accessible and digestible, it exposes a worrying trend in contemporary consumer culture, in which many of us partake.

Dr Zaki Nahaboo, Lecturer in Sociology. Author of Migrants, Borders and the European Question: The Calais Jungle (along with Dr Nathan Kerrigan). This book examines how the Calais Jungle acquired meaning as a localised struggle to define territory, borders, rights and refugees in Europe. Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad is used as a framing device for analysis. The book demonstrates how discourses of tropicality are shown to produce the Jungle in terms of a postcolonial space of exception. It also examines how subject-object assemblages that gave rise to political subjectivity, which partially elided a Eurocentric prism of rights. Lastly the book explores how intimate life in, and beyond, the Jungle acts as a spatial practice that contests the EU border regime.

Dr Kadian Pow, Lecturer in Sociology and Black Studies. Author of Stories of Black Female Identity in the Making: Queering the Love in Blackness. When Black Lives Matter activist Marissa Johnson was pressed to address why she “hates white people”, she responded with this question: do you love Black people? This book is an exploration of the issues raised by this radical question – a refusal to centre Black identity on whiteness, a question of how love, and self-love, fit with Black identity, and a queering of how Black identity is understood. Told through autobiographical reflection, this book contains the story of one Black woman’s process of iterative identity formation, grappling with the intersections of sexuality, gender, self-image, and love. Focusing on lived experience, the book places theories in context, exploring what ideas look like when applied to real life, making it invaluable reading for Black Studies and related courses.

Dr Emma Scali, Lecturer in Law. Author of Sovereign Debt and Socio-Economic Rights Beyond Crisis: The Neoliberalisation of International Law. This book discusses the structural role of debt in the contemporary global economic order and the meaning of increasing public indebtedness for states’ ability to realise socio-economic rights. Looking at the main post-Eurozone debt crisis legal developments, the book argues that the crisis has strengthened the neoliberal character of international (including human rights) and EU law.

Mr Steven Wadley, Senior Lecturer, Ms Laura Riley, Lecturer in Criminology, and Dr Sharda Murria, Senior Lecturer in Policing. Authors of Police Problem Solving Models and Theories. This book offers the reader a comprehensive understanding of problem-solving models and policing theory. The approach bridges the gap between academic understanding and practical considerations, and situates police decision making within ethical frameworks adopted by police services in England and Wales. It also draws attention to the legislation which underpins the context of problem solving and the policies which inform this.

If you have any questions about this event please email iyan.offor@bcu.ac.uk.