The Vegan Option including Vegetarianism: The Story So Far-logo

The Vegan Option including Vegetarianism: The Story So Far

Philosophy Podcasts

Stories from vegan perspectives. Great radio that just happens to be vegan. Shows pick a topic to explore in-depth. In the 2016-7 season Ian McDonald covered one epic tale - the backstory to today's vegetarian and vegan movements. From the Ganges delta to the hills of New England, from the iron age to the present day, voices challenge the idea that other animals exist soley for humans. Discover philosopher kings, rebel poets, and forgotten heroes.

Location:

United Kingdom

Description:

Stories from vegan perspectives. Great radio that just happens to be vegan. Shows pick a topic to explore in-depth. In the 2016-7 season Ian McDonald covered one epic tale - the backstory to today's vegetarian and vegan movements. From the Ganges delta to the hills of New England, from the iron age to the present day, voices challenge the idea that other animals exist soley for humans. Discover philosopher kings, rebel poets, and forgotten heroes.

Twitter:

@veganoption

Language:

English

Contact:

02077290614


Episodes

Spillover Diseases: Covid-19 & Zoonoses, with Jonna Mazet and Aysha Akhtar

4/29/2020
How does animal exploitation increase the emergence of new diseases? With the world fighting a vicious new pandemic, Ian asks a front-line physician, an epidemiologist, a public health expert and activists about how new diseases spill over from other animals, and how factory farming and the wildlife trade raise our vulnerability. Play or download (42MB MP3 30min) (via iTunes) Contributors: Dr Aysha Akhtar (@DrAyshaAkhtar) Dr Laura-Jane Smith (King’s College Hospital) (@DrLauraJane) Prof Jonna Mazet (University of California Davis)(@JonnaMazet) Peter Kemple Hardy (World Animal Protection) Zoonoses and Vegan Activism You’ve probably heard animal activists linking the Covid-19 pandemic to human treatment of animals well before you listened to my show – part of the reason for doing this show was to give people the information to talk about the link without drifting into hyperbole. For example, “Earthling” Ed Winters famously got a roasting in the UK’s tabloid press for a viral Facebook post in which he blamed half a dozen new diseases on meat-eating. From what I’ve learnt doing the show, it was his categorical certainty that’s wrong rather than his general point (and, arguably, tone). I thought his later video on the subject was more nuanced. Has it Been Three Years?… more

Duration:00:30:37

VegHist Ep 15: Liberation. Veganism, hippies, and the animal rights movement

9/13/2017
How has western vegetarianism risen, within living memory, from fringe to mainstream choice? And how has veganism gone from nowhere to everywhere? Episode 15: Liberation This final episode recounts the growth of veganism, vegetarianism, and the modern animal advocacy movement. Ian treads in the footsteps of the handful of pioneers who set up the vegan movement in the 1940s, and meets a life vegan born in 1951. He investigates the sixties counterculture that combined the philosophy of ethics, activism, and new ways of living and working, visiting one of Britain’s first vegetarian wholefood co-operatives. And as vegetarian and vegan movements increasingly link up around the world, he looks at developments in China and India. In New Delhi, he meets the vegan politician who is also the most prominent animal advocate in the world’s largest democracy. Play or download (70MB MP3 49min) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Dr Samantha Calvert (@SamCalvert) Edwin Cluer, Wimbledon Prof Julia Twigg (University of Kent, Canterbury) Reg Taylor, founder of the precursor of Suma Wholefoods David Jarvis, Les, George, and others, Arjuna Wholefoods Cambridge Dr Vincent Goossaert (Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités), Paris Dr James Staples (University of Brunel, London) Maneka Gandhi (Parliament of India) (People… more

Duration:00:49:46

VegHist Ep 14: Diet Reform. Consumerism, Lebensreform, and Gandhi

6/29/2017
In the nineteenth century, in America and Germany, new forms of vegetarianism emerge – from the individualistic consumer vegetarianism of America, to the back-to-nature European “life reform” movement. Episode 14: Diet Reform As animal agriculture industrialises and meat consumption rises, the ways that food reformers respond are familiar to people today – the plant-based meat, the celebrity athletes, and the reformers who worship nature, sunshine, and fresh air. Ian goes to the shops to discover just how many vegetarian staples he owes to pioneers like John Harvey Kellogg. In Sabarmati, northwest India, he visits the Ashram of Mahatma Mohandas K Gandhi. Play or download (62MB MP3 44min) (via iTunes) or read transcript Contributors: Dr Adam Shprintzen, (Marywood University, Scranton PA) (@VegHistory) Dr Julia Twigg (University of Kent) Megha Todi (on Instagram) (Sabarmati Ashram Archives) Ramachandra Guha (ramachandraguha.in) (@Ram_Guha) (on Wikipedia) Vegetarian area at the Chicago World’s Fair Advertisement for Kellog’s “Sanitarium” Eden makes jams and fruit juices. An Edener begs socialist vegetarian intellectual Magnus Schwantje not to send books that would get them into trouble with the Nazis At Sabarmati Ashram Gandhi would read and spin here, in Sabarmati Readings Ellen White, vision, from “A Brief History of Seventh-Day Adventists”,… more

Duration:00:44:12

VegHist Ep 13: The Vegetarians. Abolitionism, colonialism, and Victorian reformers; with Julia Twigg and Bhaskar Chakraborty. In London

5/16/2017
In the late nineteenth century, the new vegetarian movement is intertwined with other struggles – including Victorian reformers, the Indian reaction to British colonialism, and most importantly, slavery. Episode 13: The Vegetarians After their foundation in 1847 and 1850, the vegetarian societies in Britain and America rose swiftly faced new challenges. Dr Adam Shprintzen, author of the history of US vegetarianism “Vegetarian Crusade, tells Ian how the American Vegetarian Society poured its energies into an anti-slavery vegetarian settlement in the Wild West. And how its founder, Englishman Henry Clubb, ultimately took a bullet for the union in the Civil War. Under British rule, Hindu vegetarianism faced a mix of threat and opportunity. In India, Ian meets historians DN Jha, Burton Cleetus, and Bhaskar Chakraborty, who explain how, faced with rule by distant Christians, vegetarianism became more important as a marker of caste and identity. Ian also sets off on a cycle tour of vegetarian Victorian London, and talks to the first modern academic to study vegetarian history – Dr Julia Twigg. Play or download (58MB MP3 41min) (via iTunes) or read transcript Illustration of the Central Vegetarian restaurant, where Mohandas discovered the London Vegetarians. Vegetarian meal, The Holborn Restaurant Contributors:… more

Duration:00:41:21

VegHist Ep 12: Radicals & Romantics. Bible Christians, Grahamites, and Transcendentalists

4/28/2017
In the 1800s, overlapping circles of utopians, mystics, and romantics in both Europe and America develop arguments against meat until “vegetarianism” finally becomes a real movement. Episode 12: Radicals & Romantics In the aftermath of the American and French revolutions, the sects and philosophies that embrace a “vegetable diet” multiply – from ecstatic cult to puritan crusades, to utopian community to public-spirited congregation. No longer are they isolated groups – they connect with each other in books, magazines, and letters. Until a single word catches on – “vegetarianism”. In the United States of America, Ian discovers the the vegetarian sword and shoes of a 1790s “free love” vegetarian sect in a local Massachusetts museum, and visits the failed vegan commune where Louisa May “Little Women” Alcott lived as a child. And in Salford, NW England, he walks in the footsteps of a nineteenth century vegetarian church, with local historian Derek Antrobus and the vegetarian history specialist Dr Samantha Calvert. It’s a story that also takes in the French bohemian “cult of the bearded men”, the man who invented the modern idea of Robin Hood, the woman who invented Frankenstein and his creature, Sylvester Graham, and, finally, the creation of modern… more

Duration:00:46:31

VegHist Ep 11: Enlightenment. Colonial India, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Les Bardus

2/7/2017
The philosophers of Paris discuss reports of Indian vegetarianism, question the morality of eating animals, and inspire radicals who preach vegetarianism from the barricades of the French revolution. Episode 11: Enlightenment Ian traces a winding path of vegetarian inspiration from the personal diary of an Indian vegetarian working for the French, to the darkest corner of British imperial propaganda, to the Enlightenment’s favourite Paris café, to a rural retreat that inspired a social revolution, and to the squares where citizens plotted a real one. Play or download (61MB MP3 43min) (via iTunes) or read transcript There are many vegetarians in eighteenth century southern India, but only one, Ananda Ranga Pillai, who kept a diary of his daily life – whilst serving as a senior aide to the French governor. Ian meets historian Prof B. Krishnamoorthy in a temple Pillai had built in the French capital. Meanwhile, the British produced a governor of Calcutta – John Zephaniah Holwell – whose fascination for Indian culture crosses into Hindu vegetarianism. Ian meets Prof Partha Chatterjee, an expert in the incident – the Black Hole of Calcutta – that made Holwell famous. Paris was the heart of the enlightenment, where the Lumières condemn organised… more

VegHist Ep 10: Revolution. English civil war, diet gurus, and the poetry of Sensibility

1/3/2017
When printing lets ordinary people access a world of ideas, including Indian vegetarianism, some European radicals and diet gurus begin to oppose meat-eating. Episode 10: Revolution In England, the 1600s are a century of revolution. The artisans and yeomanry are picking up books – and the New Model Army is picking up pikes and muskets to turn the world upside down. Ian meets Dr Ariel Hessayon, a lecturer in the radicals of the English Civil War at a Thameside pub that was there during the 1600s, to discover tabloid scares and firebrand sermons about people who ate only bread, and water and fruit. In Ahmedabad, India, he visits the kind of animal hospital that astounded European travellers. And he hears from author Tristram Stuart about the impact stories of India had on Europeans, and how they shook Christendom’s moral certainty. Dr Anita Guerrini researches the first vegetarian diet gurus, whose books about food and medicine interpreted the intellectuals of the Republic of Letters for everyone else. And she tells Ian about the secret religion of Sir Isaac Newton. Play or download (62MB MP3 44min) (via iTunes) or read transcript Contributors: Sherwin Everett and Giraben Shah (Jivdaya Charitable Trust, within Panjrapole… more

Duration:00:43:58

VegHist Ep 9: Renaissance. Descartes, Montaigne, Gassendi, and the “sparing diet”

12/8/2016
Ancient philosophers inspire Renaissance thinkers to challenge the old hierarchy of man over beast. Episode 9: Renaissance Old medieval certainties are cracking under the combined assault of new sciences and rediscovered classics. It’s an age when “natural philosophers” combine scientific discovery with philosophical treatises, and when their Republic of Letters transcends political boundaries in the name of free thought. It’s the age of Descartes, whose mechanical philosophy dismisses animals as “automatons”. But rivals like Gassendi suggest that animals have more in common with humans than he thinks. Ian traces the trail from Paris to the Mughal Court and back to the medical schools of the Enlightenment. He discovers the forgotten story of how Christian mythology, early anatomy, classical thinkers, and Indian medicine came together in respected medical schools that taught students to prescribe a vegetable diet. Play or download (61MB MP3 44min) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Justin Begley, University of Oxford (academia.edu) Jean-Charles Darmon (Université de Versailles) (on Wikipedia) Deepak Kumar (Jawaharlal Nehru University) Tristram Stuart (tristramstuart.co.uk) (on Wikipedia) This slideshow requires JavaScript. Readings Lucretius, “On the Nature of Things”, 56 BCE (see translations by Hugh Munro 1910 & Cyril Bailey 1900) Montaige, “Apology [in the old sense… more

Duration:00:44:08

VegHist Ep 8: Contacts. Indian Sufism, Bhakti, Akbar, Portuguese Christianity, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism

10/6/2016
When conquerors who profess Islam or Christianity rule over Indian vegetarians, the conversations about food ethics go both ways. Episode 8: Contacts Ian discovers the ecstatic dancing and singing shared by Sufis and Hindus – including westerners singing Hare Krishna in London’s main shopping street. In Delhi, he finds out about the inquisition that started with European antisemitism and ended with Indians being forced to eat beef. And in the royal city of Agra, he visits a shrine built to commemorate a conversation about religion and vegetarianism between a Jain saint and the Mughal emperor Akbar. He uncovers the fascinating story of this heretic emperor who advocated vegetarianism. At the halfway point of this 15-part history of vegetarianism, the traditions of East and West come together. From hereon, it’s all one story. Play or download (52MB MP3 37min) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Pius Malekandathil (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi) Sushil Jain and Ashoka Jain, Agra Sanjukta Gupta (University of Oxford) Dr Peter Flügel, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) ISKON (“Hare Krishnas”): Devotees of Radha Krishna Temple, Soho, London Prasad distributed by Food For All Ter Kadamba das (askamonk.org) Readings Andrea Corsali, Letter to Giuliano… more

Duration:00:37:06

VegHist Ep 7: Heresies. On Chinese Buddhists, Cathars, Bogomils, Islam, and Manichaeans

9/6/2016
In the Middle Ages, three very different monastic orders spread from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea, surrounding themselves with lay believers and challenging the norm of meat-eating. Episode 7: Heresies A string of religious groups across medieval Eurasia shared one common belief: that this world was a terrible place; and to escape its cycle of rebirth and redeath you needed to be ordained into a pure life, abstaining from violence. They all have some level of abstention from flesh, up to and including a vegan diet. But they all face suspicion. Discover why the “good men” of the Cathars and Bogomils eschewed sinful flesh, why the men and women of the Manichaean Elect followed a vegan diet, and how the monks and nuns of Buddhism were shamed by their layfolk. And how a vegetarian culture spread throughout east Asia. Ian joins a Chinese Buddhist congregation in London for its full moon service. He discovers how Buddhism not only spread across China, but made vegetarianism part of Chinese culture. He discovers a war against pescetarian heretics in Europe, the medieval Chinese horror stories that encouraged kindness to animals, and visits his local Tofu maker. Play or download (67MB MP3… more

Duration:00:47:38

VegHist Ep 6: Hinduism. On Indian Vegetarianism, Vaishnavism, Satvik, and Mahayana Buddhism

7/5/2016
In the first millennium CE, Indian vegetarianism advances from an ascetic fringe to a mainstream high-status lifestyle. Episode 6: Hinduism How did vegetarianism permeate Indian society? Ian tracks the changes in India’s religious life during the first millennium, following the vegetarian strands of the tapestry that we now call Hinduism. Ian travels to a temple to Vishnu in eastern India to understand the importance of vegetarianism to his worshippers. He talks to theologians and historians in Oxford and Delhi about the factors that caused the change. He uncovers heated arguments about vegetarianism and animal advocacy in the leaves of India’s sacred texts. And he explores the medieval Buddhist monastic university of Nalanda, in the company of a lecturer from its modern namesake. Play or download (42MB MP3) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Ranjan Garuva, Ananta Vasudeva Temple (Wikipedia), Bhubaneswar Prof KTS Saroa, University of Delhi Prof GC Tripathi Prof Richard Gombrich (Wikipedia) (University of Oxford) Sanjukta Gupta (University of Oxford) Dr Deepak Anand (blogger.com) (Buddhist University of Nalanda) Readings Rules for student Brahmins, from the Gautama Dharmasūtra. Translation by Muller. Extracts from Laws of Manu on vegetarianism (V26/7, V39, V48). Translation by Bühler Defence of the cow to be… more

Duration:00:34:33

Kerry McCarthy MP on Brexit

6/11/2016
As the British public make their biggest decision in a generation, Ian asks Kerry McCarthy MP about the potential impact of Brexit on animals. Vegan MP on EU Referendum In this special short extra edition of the Vegan Option, Ian catches up with longstanding vegan MP, and main official opposition spokeswoman on farming and the environment, Kerry McCarthy. How does she think animals would vote? (And, for that matter, how will Ian?) Play or download (17MB MP3) (via iTunes) I compiled the thoughts of ten EU immigrant vegans for a post on my friend Sean’s blog, Fat Gay Vegan. I also mentioned the UK Government’s recent proposal (now withdrawn) to make the poultry industry self-regulating. Party Spokeswomen and man on Brexit: “A Vote for the EU is a vote for Animals” by Kerry McCarthy MP, Labour shadow secretary of state for the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs “If Animals Could Vote, they Would Vote to Remain” by Keith Taylor MEP, Green party spokesman on animals “Leave or Remain? AWP’s position …” by Vanessa Hudson, leader of the Animal Welfare Party Podcaster and YouTuber VeganTrix (SoundCloud) filmed Kerry McCarthy’s full talk to VegFestUK [since deleted from YouTube]. It’s an… more

Duration:00:12:18

VegHist Ep 5: Flesh and Spirit. On Egyptian monasticism, Early Christianity, Plutarch, Neoplatonism, and Manicheansim

6/7/2016
In the eastern Roman Empire, several faiths and philosophies agree on one thing; that you need to eschew flesh to live a life of the spirit. Episode 5: Flesh & Spirit Not all Romans celebrated pagan sacrifices or the bloodthirsty arena. Some Romans followed the semi-mythical vegetarian Pythagoras, or neoplatonist philosophers who preached a vegetarian contemplative life. In the melting pot of Jewish mythology, Greek philosophy, and the worship of Jesus many forms of Christianity emerge. Some of them advocate vegetarianism. The lost world religion of Manichaeanism took ideas from India and was led by a plant based priesthood that would last a thousand years. Alexandria in Egypt is the epicentre of many of these contemplative movements. Ian visits a valley in Yorkshire that still echoes with the traditions of the ancient Egyptian desert – the Coptic Christian monastery of St. Athanasius. He discovers why the monks pursue that life, what it means to them, and how they maintain some of the original vegetarian traditions of the Egyptian desert fathers. Play or download (43MB MP3) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Fr. Abouna Yostas St. Athanasius (St. Athanasius’ Monastery) Dr David Grummet (University of Edinburgh, davidgrumett.com) Dr Michael Beer (@Sutekh69)… more

Duration:00:35:22

VegHist Ep 4: Ashoka. On India’s animal advocate Buddhist king and the spread of the śramanas; with Bharati Pal and Suchandra Ghosh; at the Kalinga rock edict, India

5/3/2016
In the largest ancient Indian empire, at the height of its power, its Buddhist king advocates for animals in his edicts, and tries to change India for good. Episode 4: Ashoka In the fourth century BCE, the śramaṇa movement (anti-violence anti-ritual ascetics) has produced three religions: the vegetarian Jains, the freegan(ish) Buddhists, and the mysterious (and now vanished) Ājīvikas. […] The post VegHist Ep 4: Ashoka. On India’s animal advocate Buddhist king and the spread of the śramanas;...

Duration:00:32:06

VegHist Ep 2: Pythagoreans

4/5/2016
In Ancient Greece, vegetarianism belongs to a secretive subculture – amongst the mystery religions of Orpheus and the musical mathematical cult of Pythagoras. Episode 3: Pythagoreans The Greek philosophers knew about vegetarians. But they were part of cults associated with the mythical figure of Orpheus, and the guru of harmony and number – Pythagoras. The people who introduced the concept of reincarnation into Greece. In the British Museum, Ian talks to Hugh Bowden, the head of the classics department of King’s College London and mystery religion specialist. There, Prof Bowden examines what its artefacts of Greek life and death tell us about attitudes to animals. Including – some suspect – an Orphic pocket guide to Hades. Play, download (43MB MP3) (via iTunes) or read transcript Contributors: Prof Hugh Bowden (@HughBowden) (King’s College, University of London) Prof Armand D’Angour (@ArmandDAngour) (Wikipedia) (www) (University of Oxford) Dr Michael Beer (@Sutekh69) Prof John Wilkins (University of Exeter) Readings The translations used in the show aren’t necessarily the ones linked to here; for example, I used “animate” as a consistent translation of “ἔμψυχος” (empsychos), to help communicate that they all used the same phrase to mean abstaining from flesh. Hesiod’s “Works and Days”, 8th… more

Duration:00:30:24

VegHist Ep 2: The Middle Path

3/1/2016
Ian travels to the tree where the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment, and explores the paradox of his early followers’ attitudes to vegetarianism. Episode 2: The Middle Path Of the many monks of the ancient Indian kingdom of Magadha, only one has become a global household name. Buddhism will spread ahimsa to the ends of the earth, and inspires many millions of vegetarians today. And yet the oldest Buddhist texts seem to portray the Buddha eating meat. Hear commentary from theologians from both vegetarian and meat-eating interpretations of Buddhism, the insights of world-leading historians, and a dramatisation of the moment in early texts where vegetarian Jain activists clash with Buddhist meat-eating. Play or download (43MB MP3) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Rev Dr Varasambodhi Thera, International Meditation Centre, Bodhgaya Prof KTS Saroa, University of Delhi Dr Peter Flügel, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Prof Richard Gombrich (Wikipedia) (University of Oxford) Prof Dwijendra Narayan Jha (Wikipedia) Prof Uma Shankar Vyas (Buddhist University of Nalanda) Rev Dr Varasambodhi by the enclosure housing the trunk of the Mahabodhi tree and the Buddha’s throne. Readings The story of General Siha of Vaiśālī, and the rule of… more

Duration:00:30:44

VegHist Episode 1: Ahimsa

1/22/2016
In the Ganges plain in Northen India in the middle of the first millennium BCE, the idea of “ahimsa” – non violence – emerges. Episode 1: Ahimsa Ian visits the intellectual hub of iron age India – the Kingdom of Magadha. He discovers a subculture of vagabond philosophers that developed two world religions; and the vegetarian order of monks and nuns who became the torchbearers of ahimsa. Play or download (41MB MP3) (via iTunes) or read transcript. Contributors: Sadhvi Yasājhe Maharaj Interpreter: Dr. Smita Bagrecha James Serpell (University of Pennsylvania) “One Man’s Meat: On The Evolution of Animal Food Taboos” (blog post) Prof Richard Gombrich (Wikipedia) (University of Oxford) Prof Dwijendra Narayan Jha (Wikipedia) Prof GC Tripathi Dr Priyadarshana Jain (University of Madras) Dr Peter Flügel, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Prayer Halls and Museum at Veerayatan, Rajgir Locations: Veeryatan, Bihar BL Institute, Delhi Recording diary I’d only been told about Rajgir the day before arriving. I was staying at the refounded University of Nalanda for a couple of nights, where I interviewed two people who lived in the block in which I was staying. Institutions like that are fantastic for my research. But one interviewee – Deepak Anand… more

Duration:00:30:04

Digital Vegans: Picking up the Tab, with Stephanie Redcross of Vegan Mainstream

2/2/2014
Digital Vegans: The Tab As the internet transforms the media landscape, how can vegan organisations and businesses survive and thrive? In the midst of the crowdfunding campaign for Vegetarianism: The Story So Far, Ian McDonald interviews Stephanie Redcross of Vegan Mainstream. Play or download (23MB MP3) (via iTunes) This show is an update to Digital Vegans, in which we spoke with Eric Brent of Happy Cow, Kerry McCarthy and others at venerable group London Vegans, and reviewed vegan smartphone apps. The interview will form part of the Resonance 104.4FM broadcast radio edit of Digital Vegans. Stephanie Redcross Stephanie Redcross is the managing director of Vegan Mainstream – a San Diego-based marketing company that specialises in vegan and vegetarian businesses. @VeganMainstream on Twitter Thanks Digital media artist Robb Masters wrote our theme. Also, thank you to everyone who has backed the Kickstarter for a radio history of vegetarianism.

Duration:00:16:24

Palm Oil: with Catherine Laurence, Eric Lambin, Orangutan rescuer Daniek Hendarto, RSPO SG Darrel Webber

9/13/2013
Palm oil is everywhere - from cooking oil to soap to vegan margarine. Equatorial rainforest and peatland are cleared and replaced with serried ranks of oil palm trees (Elaeis guineensis). The whole biodiversity of Borneo and Sumatra is threatened by habitat loss, particularly the iconic Orang Utans. Some vegan activists say no product that kills this many animals can be considered vegan. But is palm oil really worse than anything else? Can poor countries like Malaysia and Indonesia develop without it? Is there a sustainable solution? Environmentalist Catherine Laurence helps disentangle the thicket of issues. Hear academic experts Eric Lambin and Robert Greenland; vegan baker Ms Cupcake; primatologist Georgina Ash; vegan MP Kerry McCarthy; the boss of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and vegan Indonesian palm oil activist and Miskin Porno lead singer Daniek Hendarto. more

Duration:00:33:45

Science Fiction and Animals: from Jonathan Swift and HG Wells to Star Trek and Doctor Who; with Sherryl Vint, Robert McKay, and Tara Lomax

7/5/2013
From Jonathan Swift's talking horses to Star Trek's Vulcans, and from HG Wells to Doctor Who, science fiction has tackled the big questions about our relationship with other animals. Join the experts who work at the junction of literary criticism and animal studies to discover the themes in famous books, film, and TV - as well as the cult sci-fi stories that wrestle with food ethics, the boundaries of humanity, and alternative ways of living. more

Duration:00:32:24