Ida B. Wells and the relevance of her work to the animal justice movement

Zane McNeill and Nathan Poirier discuss Ida B. Wells' historical and contemporary legacy and relevance to critical animal studies

For more than 40 years from the late 1800s, Ida B. Wells fought for justice for Black Americans. Wells was a journalist, newspaper owner, feminist, suffragist and organiser. In particular, she called herself a lynching agitator and she’s probably still best known for this work

McNeill and Poirier discuss the historical and foundational influence the Black feminist body of work plays for critical animal studies. This influence is all too often not made clear. While barely mentioning nonhuman animals,” the essay on Ida B. Wells, “fundamentally belongs within critical animal studies via consistent anti- oppression” by studying historical gender and racial activism through the efforts of an early and important yet understudied Black feminist”.

Their book is entitled Expanding the Critical Animal Studies Imagination: Essays in Solidarity and Total Liberation (2023, Peter Lang https://www.peterlang.com/document/1298884)

Website/Socials

Zane McNeill @zane_crittheory on X

Nathan Poirier https://www.facebook.com/nathan.poirier.7792

Emi Leese

https://emilialeese.substack.com

http://thinklikeavegan.com

http://emilialeese.com

@emi.leese or @thinklikeavegan, Instagram, Facebook, X and Threads

Credits

Host: Emilia A. Leese

Guests: Zane McNeill and Nathan Poirier

Production & Engineering: Jim Moore of Bloody Vegans Productions; https://www.bloodyvegansproductions.com

Graphics: Catherine Dorrell https://www.messyvegancook.com

Music

Opening theme: “Flashbacks” by Jenny Moore’s Mystic Business

Interlude: "Memories/Generations" by Matthew Gerstenberger; Seismicity on Soundcloud https://on.soundcloud.com/3Pf8g

Closing theme: “Tear Things Up” by Jenny Moore’s Mystic Business

This podcast is part of iROAR, the Animals Podcasting Network https://iroarpod.com