Rethinking Accountability to Animals

Seminar summary

Non-human animals play a significant role in the two grand ecological challenges of our time, namely climate change and biodiversity loss. While the disruption or loss of wildlife habitats contributes to exacerbating climate instability and reducing biodiversity, industrial animal agriculture also drives both phenomena, in addition to which it induces severe suffering on the individuals involved. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift in our perception of animals, from viewing them as property to recognizing them as accountability holders. It problematizes the applicability of the traditional (promissory) form of accountability when non-human animals are accountability holders and, drawing on political theory of representation, proposes three alternative forms of accountability: surrogate accountability, anticipatory accountability, and gyroscopic accountability. These alternative forms of accountability are illustrated with instances from the news and other publicly available sources. Additionally, we discuss the unique advantages and potential limitations each of these forms has in fostering more equitable human-animal relationships and potential implementation within an organizational context.

How to attend this seminar

This seminar is free to attend with no need to register in advance.

We welcome you to join us online on Wednesday 6 March 2024 at 2pm.

Speaker bio

Professor Eija Vinnari

Eija is professor of public financial management at Tampere University. A cross-cutting theme in much of her recent research is non-human animals as a marginalized constituency. She has published for instance on counter-accounts produced by animal rights activists and the inclusion of animals in the definition of sustainability. Her other publications cover a broad range of issues including critical dialogic accounting and accountability, inter-generational equity and legitimacy in the context of water services; environmental conflicts; risk management; and research methodology. In predominantly qualitative research she draws on various theoretical and methodological resources such as Actor-Network Theory, agonistic pluralism, discourse analysis, institutional theories, political theories and the sociology of quantification.