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SHARED WORLDS: Concepts, Conflicts, and Connections in Human-Animal Studies
Vegan Studies at Arihanta Institute Online Conference
Saturday, August 1, 2026 | Online
CALL FOR PAPERS (CFP)
In this conference, scholars and advocates gather to discuss concepts, conflicts, and connections in human-animal studies. The Call for Papers is open to anyone (e.g., undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, independent scholars, activists) who seriously engages with these issues in their scholarship, work, or organizing. The three main themes are:
- Concepts: Explore the concepts of “the human” and “the animal” and how the human/animal binary operates in human justice and animal justice efforts.
- Conflicts: Detail sites of conflict between humans and animals and the specificities of each location. Possible sites include, but are not limited to: industrial farming, medical research, physical labor, recreation and sport, hunting, and extermination.
- Connections: Discuss examples of human-animal connection, such as through shared technologies of oppression, interspecies communication, rescue and rehabilitation, environmental protection, or spiritual practices grounded in compassion.
This CFP welcomes proposals on any one of the three themes. Some possible topic areas are:
- Philosophies of humanism and anthropocentrism
- Non-Euro-American approaches to animals and animality
- South Asian religious approaches to animals and animality
- Intersections with anti-Blackness, racism, sexism, and ableism
- Animals and colonialism
- Animals and capitalism
- Human and nonhuman labor in industrial animal farming
- Animals in research laboratories
- Ideologies of hunting
- “Pests,” “vermin,” and other exterminated animals
- Recent studies in animal cognition
- Rescue and rehabilitation in animal sanctuaries
- Rethinking “pets” and other “cooperative” relationships with animals
- Communing spiritually with the nonhuman world
Each panel will have three participants with each presentation scheduled for approximately 20 minutes. The three presentations will be followed by 30 minutes for Q&A.
Please submit a title and a 150-word abstract of your presentation by Monday, February 9, 2026. Notifications regarding acceptance will be emailed by Monday, March 9, 2026. Please send your submission and questions to Dr. Jonathan Dickstein at jhdickstein@arihantainstitute.org.