Introducing an intersectional framework to global animal law to reconceptualize legal research on international trade and animal law.
Researchers
Research Background
This research project critiques emerging global animal law for relying primarily on mainstream animal ethics and for facilitating coloniality. The project offers a critical, yet practical new approach based on marginalised scholarship and scholarship from marginalised groups. This is novel because the insights of critical animal studies are not integrated into animal law studies often enough, and this is the first work to take a critical animal studies approach to global animal law. This is timely research with the capacity to effectively reorient global animal law studies at an early stage of its development, to better address concerns and priorities of the Global South and marginalised groups across the globe. This would bring global animal law scholarship up to speed with global environmental law scholarship which has a growing focus on diversity and participation, particularly regarding indigeneity and ecology.
Research Aims
The first overarching objective of this research project is to improve the lives of animals through law. The second overarching objective of this research project is to ensure that the means of improving animals’ lives through law and policy reject systemically oppressive mechanisms. In pursuing these objectives, this research focuses on subject matter including global animal law, animal ethics and international trade law. This research project considers that achieving the two objectives requires deep consideration of neglected animal interests and intersecting oppressions in both law and scholarship, conceptualising each as instances of “Othering”. Thus, the central question this research seeks to answer is: to what extent can introducing an intersectional ethical framework to global animal law help to reconceptualise legal research on international trade and animal law.
Research Methods
This research project was conducted in five parts, utilising socio-legal desk-based research methods. First, this research project delineates a second wave of animal ethics including posthumanism, feminist ethics, intersectionality theory and Earth Jurisprudence. Second, it critiques global animal law (scholarship) for coloniality by applying global law metatheory and second wave animal ethics. Third, it introduces a second wave critique of trade policy’s neoliberal underpinnings and new trade data proving impact on animal welfare. Fourth, it critiques unacknowledged dominance of unilateralism in trade law responses to the animal question which has impacted global animal law normativity. Finally, this research project utilises second wave animal ethics to construct proposals for improving global animal law’s response to trade and animal welfare issues, providing a model for broader reconceptualization of global animal law.
Research Outcomes
Publications
- Iyan Offor, Global Animal Law from the Margins (Routledge 2023)
- Iyan Offor, ‘Global Animal Law and the Problem of “Globabble”: Toward Decoloniality and Diversity in Global Animal Law Studies’ (2022) 12(1) Asian Journal of International Law
- Iyan Offor, ‘Second wave animal ethics and (global) animal law: a view from the margins’ (2020) 11(2) Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 268
- Iyan Offor, ‘Animals and the Impact of Trade Law and Policy: A Global Animal Law Question’ (2020) 9(2) Transnational Environmental Law 239
Presentations
- Iyan Offor, ‘Second Wave Animal Ethics’ (Beyond Species Podcast, 2021)
- Iyan Offor gives evidence to House of Commons International Trade Committee on method of production labelling for animal products (2021)
- Iyan Offor, ‘Animal law in an Interconnected World: Using International Trade Law to Help Animals’ (Canadian Animal Law Conference, Animal Justice, 2021)
This research project is in its dissemination phase. If you would like to learn more about the project and its outcomes, please contact Dr Iyan Offor at: iyan.offor@bcu.ac.uk.