Animals, Capitalism, Marxism: A Conversation

Join the authors of two major works on animals and capitalism for an event exploring the potential and limits of Marxist theory for addressing the roles and fates of nonhuman animals, as well as ways to connect anticapitalist struggles to animal liberation and environmental justice. Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel and Alex Blanchette bring to the Marxist Education Project an ongoing conversation they have been conducting this spring as Visiting Fellows at the Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Program. Wadiwel is the author of Animals and Capital and Blanchette is the author of Porkopolis: American Animality, Standardized Life, and the Factory Farm. Both books have recently been featured in MEP reading groups.

Dinesh Wadiwel is Associate Professor in Human Rights and Socio-Legal Studies at The University of Sydney. He has been active in anti-poverty and disability rights movements. Previous books include The War against Animals and, as co-editor, Foucault and Animals (Brill, 2016).

Alex Blanchette is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Tufts University. He also co-edited How Nature Works: Rethinking Labor on a Troubled Planet, which analyzes how non-human beings are enlisted into capitalist work regimens. His current research addresses the politics of quitting meatpacking, based on ethnographic interviews with ex-workers from across the United States.