The Politics and Power of Meat-Eating

The Politics and Power of Meat-Eating is the eighth and final seminar of "Eating Well in Women's Creative Arts Bodies, Politics, Ecologies", a series of eight online seminars that together explore eating disorders, consumption and patriarchy, food cultures and placemaking, cannibalism, ecological crisis, multispecies worlds, and the politics of meat-eating. See our website for further details.

Date: Tuesday, 8 June, 5.00 - 6.30 pm BST/ 4:00 - 5.30 CEST
Location: Online

Speakers, Abstracts & Bio:

Emelia Quinn, University of Ottawa: "Vegetarianism and Veganism in Literature and Culture"

Abstract: coming soon

Biography: coming soon

Gabrielle Pozzo di Borgo, Trinity College Dublin: "The Power Granted by Meat: Eating Flesh and Physical Prowess in a Fantasy World"

Abstract: This talk will address the link between eating and physical prowess, and power in general. In the novel I am currently writing, eating meat from certain animals confers certain magical abilities. At the start of the novel, it is believed that only meat can grant these abilities, so my heroine forces herself to eat meat, even though she is disgusted by it after witnessing the killing of an animal as a child. This act grants her power on two levels: a physical level, where she is able to wield a certain type of magic; and a symbolic level, which is apparent in the control and coercion humans exert on farm animals, whom they then kill to obtain the meat. In a sense, the act of eating meat in this fantasy world could be read as a form of "stealing" the animals' own physical abilities, since the more powerful an animal is, the more power his or her meat will grant. I think another aspect that might be interesting to cover is the temporary character of the abilities granted by meat (they fade after digestion is complete), which in turn determines the permanence of animal farming. Because the effects meat grants are temporary, then animals must remain in a constant state of subjugation. It is not a "drink the potion once and it shall grant you power" type of situation. This power is elusive, conditioned on the death of animals, and needs to be seeked at every meal. This fantastical situation echoes a real-world preoccupation: the idea that only meat/animal products can help build muscle or facilitate physical performance. 

Biography: Coming soon

Organisers
This seminar series is organised by Phoebe Chetwynd (CY Cergy Paris Université) and Poulomi Choudhury (University College Dublin), with thanks to Héritages: culture/s, patrimoine/s, création/s.

Cover image by roam in color on Unsplash, free to use under the Unsplash License.