Will Kymlicka Presents: "Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship" - Tuesday, Feb 5, 2012 at 4:30 PM in Rocky 003

Could man’s best friend be man’s equivalent with regard to citizenship? From the pets that we love to the animals we fear and admire, it seems there is a clear distinction between animal and human—with the right of citizenship being reserved exclusively for humans. However, are animals deserving of protection beyond animals cruelty, potentially even citizenship?

Professor Will Kymlicka is the Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen’s University, and focuses his studies on multicultural citizenship. He questions whether animals are the type of being with whom humans can establish fair terms of cooperating citizenship. Furthermore, if citizenship were extended to “unruly beasts,” would it erode the highest forms of humanity and justice embodied within the traditional idea of citizenship?

Will Kymlicka is the Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. His work, translated into 34 languages, has focused on how democratic countries address issues of ethnic, racial and religious diversity, with a special focus on the theory and practice of multicultural citizenship. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. From 2004-2006, he was the President of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. He is the author of seven books published by Oxford University Press, including Multicultural Citizenship (1995), and Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity (2007). His most recent book, co-authored with Sue Donaldson, is Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (2011).
 
Please join us for researcher, author and scholar Willaim Kymlicka's talk, "Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship," at Rockefeller 003 at 4:30 pm, February 5, 2013.

Students are also invited to a breakfast with Professor Kymlicka on Tuesday, February 5th from 9-10 AM.