Book ID: CBB221498231

Bearing Witness: Ruth Harrison and British Farm Animal Welfare (1920–2000) (2021)

unapi

This open access book is the biography of one of Britain’s foremost animal welfare campaigners and of the world of activism, science, and politics she inhabited. In 1964, Ruth Harrison’s bestseller Animal Machines triggered a gear change in modern animal protection by popularising the term ‘factory farming’ alongside a new way of thinking about animal welfare. Here, historian Claas Kirchhelle explores Harrison’s avant-garde upbringing, Quakerism, and how animal welfare debates were linked to concerns about the wider ethical and environmental trajectories of post-war Britain. Breaking the myth of Harrison as a one-hit wonder, Kirchhelle reconstructs Harrison’s 46 years of campaigning and the rapid transformation of welfare politics and science during this time. Exacerbated by Harrison’s own actions, the decades after 1964 saw a polarisation of animalpolitics, a professionalisation of British activism, and the rise of a new animal welfare science. Harrison’s belief in incremental reform allowed her to form ties to leading scientists but alienated her from more radical campaigners. Many of her 1964 demands gradually became part of mainstream politics. However, farm animal welfare’s increasing marketisation has also led to a relative divorce from the wider agenda of social improvement that Harrison once bore witness to. This is the first book to cast light on the interlinked histories of British farm animal welfare activism, science, and legislation. Its unique scope allows it to go beyond existing accounts of modern British animal welfare and will be of interest to those interested in animal welfare, environmentalism, and the behavioural sciences.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB221498231/

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Authors & Contributors
Janet M. Davis
Eller, Andrea R.
Canington, Stephanie L.
Mason, Jennifer
Benedetta Piazzesi
Sholts, Sabrina B.
Concepts
Human-animal relationships
Animal welfare
Animal husbandry
Political activists and activism
Animals
Environmentalism
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
20th century, late
18th century
17th century
Early modern
Places
Great Britain
Scotland
United States
England
Sicily
Eastern Europe
Institutions
Friends of the Earth
Smithsonian National Zoological Park (Smithsonian National Zoo)
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Sierra Club
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