Come along to the first paper in Series #4 + help us launch the ‘Philosophies of Difference’ special issue of the Australian Feminist Law Journal.
“Do Animals Labour? Food Animals and Marx’s Value Theory”
Dinesh Wadiwel (University of Sydney)
ABSTRACT:
The recent ‘political turn’ in animal rights theory has also opened up possibilities for conceptualising animals as a social justice issue within the context of social and political institutions. This paper explores the potential of using theory from Karl Marx to think about animal labour under capitalism. In Capital Marx draws a fundamental distinction between constant capital and variable capital. In this account, it is the latter category of capital that is reflective of human labour, and only variable capital is capable of producing surplus. In other words only humans “labour.” Against this view a range of scholars – such as Ted Benton and Barbara Noske – have proposed animals as labouring subjects. This paper seeks to extend on this work. Drawing on Marx, I will argue in a technical sense that animals labour as variable capital to both produce surplus and simultaneously to reproduce themselves as constant capital for the next phase of a value chain. I will follow the implications for thinking this through for small scale animal agriculture, and then, large scale automated forms of animal based food production. I will argue that this perspective offers some novel ways to consider human domination of animals, and argue for political change.
BIO:
Dr Dinesh Wadiwel is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney, and is convenor of the Human Animal Research Network (HARN). Dinesh’s research interests include theories of violence, critical animal studies and disability rights. He is author of the monograph The War Against Animals (Brill, 2015) and co-editor (with Matthew Chrulew) of the collection Foucault and Animals (Brill, 2016).
LAUNCH:
Australian Feminist Law Journal, ‘Philosophies of Difference’ Special Issue 43.1.
This special issue presents original work from local and international scholars that privileges the thinking of difference as central to contemporary debates in feminist theory, critical philosophy of race, decolonial thought, critical plant studies, the philosophy of nature and queer theory. The issue includes an interview with Elizabeth Grosz as well as articles by Grosz, Linda Daley, Simone Gustafsson , Rebecca Hill, Jennifer Mensch, Helen Ngo, Ivan Dario Vargas Roncancio, and Stephen Seely.
WHERE:
RMIT City Campus, Council Chambers (Building 1, Level 2, Room 17). Entrance at rear of LaTrobe St via the Pearson and Murphy’s Café courtyard.
WHEN:
Thursday 17 August, 6PM-7:30PM
philosophies of difference 