
The Animal Turn
Claudia Hirtenfelder


2 Creators


2 Creators
Animals are increasingly at the forefront of research questions – Not as shadows to human stories, or as beings we want to understand biologically, or for purely our benefit – but as beings who have histories, stories, and geographies of their own. Each season is set around themes with each episode unpacking a particular animal turn concept and its significance therein. Join Claudia Hirtenfelder as she delves into some of the most important ideas emerging out of this recent turn in scholarship, thinking, and being.

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Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Animal Turn episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Animal Turn for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Animal Turn episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Bonus: Koalas with Danielle Clode
The Animal Turn
06/01/23 • 56 min
In this bonus episode Claudia talks to Danielle Clode about her recent book on koalas. They talk about koalas’ incredible bodies and some of their social dynamics, including koalas unique digestive and reproductive systems and their long-distance bellows.
Date Recorded: 10 April 2023.
Danielle Clode is a biologist and natural history author based at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Danielle grew up in the fishing town of Port Lincoln in South Australia before sailing around the coast with her parents on a boat known as ‘the pirate ship’. After finishing school in far north Queensland, she moved to Adelaide to study politics and psychology. Danielle completed her doctorate in zoology at Oxford University, studying seabirds and feral mink in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Her books include Killers in Eden, which was made into an award-winning Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV documentary; Voyage to the South Seas, winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-fiction; and The Wasp and the Orchid, which was shortlisted for the National Biography Award. Her most recent book is In Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World. Find out more about Danielle on her website and connect with her on Twitter.
Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured:
Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future by Danielle Clode.
The Animal Turn is part of the iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on A.P.P.L.E, Twitter, and Instagram
Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast; Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, and Jeremy John for the logo. This episode was edited by Christiaan Menz and produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.
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Bonus: Mother with Yamini Narayanan
The Animal Turn
06/14/23 • 66 min
Yamini Narayanan is back on the show, this time to talk to Claudia about her book Mother Cow, Mother India. They focus their discussion on the concept of “Mother” and what it means for cows in India. They touch on the implications of cows being sacralised as mothers of the Hindu nation and what cows’ daily lives, as mothers, are like.
Date Recorded: 25 April 2023.
Yamini Narayanan is an Associate Professor of International and Community Development at Deakin University, Melbourne. Her new book Mother Cow, Mother India explores the nexus between dairying and right-wing authoritarianism that underpins India’s cow protection politics. Her work is supported by two Australian Research Council grants. Yamini is currently researching animals in enforced and coercive labour in India’s brick kilns, exploring an anti-anthropocentric politics of poverty. She is a lifelong Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, an honour that is conferred through nomination or invitation only. Find out more about Yamini on Deakin University’ website and connect with her on Twitter.
Featured:
Mother Cow, Mother India by Yamini Narayanan, The afterlives of the lively commodity by Kathryn Gillespie; The War Against Animals, by Dinesh Wadiwel; Every Twelve Seconds by Timothy Pachirat; Objectification by Martha Nussbaum; Life for Sale, by Rosemary Collard.
Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast; Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, and Jeremy John for the logo. This episode was edited by Christiaan Menz and produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder.
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
International Women's Podcasting Awards
The Animal Turn is proud to have been shortlisted in the International Women's Podcasting Awards.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

1 Listener

Bonus: The Salmon People Podcast with Sandra Bartlett
The Animal Turn
09/09/24 • 63 min
Award-winning journalist Sandra Bartlett joins us to uncover the unsettling realities of fish farming in British Columbia with her impactful podcast, "The Salmon People." We discuss some of the social and environmental controversies surrounding salmon farming in Canada including the interconnections between wild and farmed salmon in the region, how sea lice have devastated marine populations, and the ways in which indigenous groups are resisting industry interests.
Date Recorded: 8 May 2024
Sandra Bartlett is an award-winning journalist based in Toronto. She worked as a producer and reporter in NPR's Investigative Unit based in Washington. In 20 plus years at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, she worked around the world – from Guantanamo Bay to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Uganda, and Israel. She now produces investigative podcast series. The Poison Detectives follows how a firefighter’s wife and a corporate lawyer in different parts of the U.S. get pulled into solving separate mysteries, cows and deer haemorrhage to death in West Virginia and something that could be giving firefighters cancer. The Salmon People, the focus of this episode, tells the story of government malfeasance and industry collaboration to farm salmon on the Pacific Ocean waterways in British Columbia. Verified: Dust Up is about the dangers of Johnson & Johnson baby powder and the risk of ovarian cancer.
Featured:
The Salmon People, a podcast by Sandra Bartlett.
A Stain Upon the Sea: West Coast Salmon Farming by Stephen Hume, Alexandra Morton et al.
What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe.
The Animal Highlight, a sister podcast
The Animal Turn is part of the iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on A.P.P.L.E, Twitter, and Instagram
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

S1E7: Animal Warfare Law with Saskia Stucki
The Animal Turn
06/07/20 • 52 min
Claudia speaks to Saskia Stucki, who sees overlaps between International Humanitarian Law and Animal Welfare Law as providing fertile ground for legal conceptual development. Saskia Stucki believes ‘Animal Warfare Law’ offers a way forward for considering how animal welfare and animal rights could better complement one another.
Date recorded: 6 May 2020
Guest: Saskia Stucki is Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. In 2018/2019, she was a visiting researcher at the Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Program, where she worked on her two-year postdoctoral research project “Trilogy on a Legal Theory of Animal Rights” (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation). She studied law at the University of Basel, Switzerland, where she also obtained her doctoral degree in 2015. The resulting book on “Fundamental Rights for Animals” (2016) won four awards, among other the biennial award of the Swiss Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Her research interests include animal law and ethics, animal personhood and rights, legal animal studies and comparative animal welfare law, legal theory, human rights philosophy, international humanitarian law, and environmental law. You can find out more about Saskia and her work here.
Host: Claudia Hirtenfelder is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project that looks at the historical relationships between animals and cities. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured readings: The Humanization of Humanitarian Law by Theodor Meron; The War Against Animals by Dinesh Wadiwel; and Beyond Animal Welfare/Warfare Law: Humanizing the war on animals and the need for complementary animal rights by Saskia Stucki (forthcoming)
Bed Music created by Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_)
Podcast Logo created by Jeremy John (Website)
Sponsored by Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics – A.P.P.L.E (Website)
Part of iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and the CFRC Podcast Network
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

S6E8: Re-Animalization with Krithika Srinivasan
The Animal Turn
02/05/24 • 71 min
Krithika Srinivasan joins Claudia on the show to talk about re-animalization, a concept that challenges the dominant ways in which human wellbeing are framed. Re-Animalization compels one to think about how development is predicated on logics of protection and sacrifice, expanding notions of longevity, and a reduction of risk. Re-Animalization offers an opportunity to shift our gaze to the most privileged and to consider how risks might be more evenly distributed.
Date Recorded: 23 November 2023.
Krithika Srinivasan is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, post-development politics, animal studies, and nature geographies. Her work draws on research in South Asia to rethink globally established concepts and practices about nature-society relations and reconfigure approaches to multispecies justice. Krithika is the principal investor of the project Remaking One Health Indies. She has published widely, including in journals such as the Sociological Review, Geoforum, and Environment and Planning. Learn more about the ROHIndies project on their website and connect with Krithika on Twitter (@KritCrit)
Featured:
Re-animalising wellbeing: Multispecies justice after development by Krithika Srinivasan
The Eye of the Crocodile by Val Plumwood
Pluriversal politics: The real and the possible by Arturo Escobar
Bed bugs are back by Heather Lynch
Respecting Nature’s Autonomy in Relationship with Humanity by Ned Hettinger
The Animal Turn is part of the iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on A.P.P.L.E, Twitter, and Instagram
Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast; Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Virginia Thomas for the Animal
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

11/01/21 • 87 min
In this first episode of season 4, Claudia speaks to Bryan Pijanowski about soundscapes and sound ecology. They discuss what soundscapes are, how to study them and why thinking about sound might help scholars to think more deeply about animals and their environments.
Date Recorded: 7 October 2021
Dr. Bryan C Pijanowski is Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. His work focusses on the use of sounds to study nature and how humans perceive their environment through their senses, especially through sound. He is also the Director of the Center for Global Soundscapes, which serves as a focal point for comparative global soundscape work that focusses on classifying sounds for use in biodiversity research. His group also spans into informal learning. He is the Executive Producer of an IMAX-Giant Screen-Domed Experience interactive film called Global Soundscapes! A Mission to Record the Earth. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles, conducted research at over 54 locations around the world, and is close to reaching his personal mission of conducting a study in every major terrestrial and aquatic biome in the world (only four more to go!). His soundscape archive now exceeds 4 million recordings. The longest research project is now starting its fifteenth year. Dr. Pijanowski received his PhD (Zoology) from Michigan State University and his BS from Hope College (Biology).
Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured:
Soundscape Ecology: The Science of Sound in the Landscape by Bryan Pijanowski et al; Soundscape conservation by Sarah Dumyahn and Bryan Pijanowski; Introduction to the special issue on soundscape ecology
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory (SAPLab)
The SAP Lab provides workspace and equipment for students engaged in sound related activities.
Sonic Arts Studio
The Queen’s Sonic Arts Studio (formerly Electroacoustic Music Studio) was founded in 1970.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

S3E3: Invisiblized Animals with Paula Arcari
The Animal Turn
05/04/21 • 84 min
Claudia chats with Paula Arcari about the animals and how animals are rendered invisible in the urban – not only materially but epistemically and ethically too. They grapple with which animals are considered in the celebration of multispecies urban entanglements, and which are not.
Date recorded: 29 March 2021
Paula Arcari is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow within the Centre for Human Animal Studies at Edge Hill University, UK. Her three-year project ‘The Visual Consumption of Animals: Challenging Persistent Binaries’ aims to support transformational change in the way humans conceive and interact with nature. Before joining Edge Hill, Paula worked at RMIT University in Melbourne on a range of climate change projects and completed her PhD there in 2018. She is primarily interested in understanding the constitution of societal change and stability in relation to climate and environmental change, the expropriation of nature, and the oppression of nonhuman animals. Find out more about Paula here.
Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured: Making Sense of ‘Food’ Animals: A Critical Exploration of the Persistence of Meat and Where species don’t meet: Invisibilized animals, urban nature and city limits by Paula Arcari; In the nature of cities: urban political ecology and the politics of urban metabolism by Heynen, Nik, Maria Kaika, and Erik Swyngedouw; A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans: with A Theory of Meaning by Jakob von Uexküll; The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J Adams; The Many Selve
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

Bonus: Interference with Paul Watson
The Animal Turn
10/16/23 • 59 min
In this bonus episode Claudia talks to Captain Paul Watson about the concept of interference. They discuss his recent book Hitman for the Kindness Club as well as how he uses strategies of “aggressive nonviolence” to combat what he calls “the economics of extinction.” They also touch on the destructiveness of the fishing industry and factory farming for the oceans and the future of the planet.
Date Recorded: 3 October 2023.
Captain Paul Watson is a marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist. Paul was one of the founding members and directors of Greenpeace. In 1977, he left Greenpeace and founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He is a renowned speaker, accomplished author, master mariner, and lifelong environmentalist, Captain Watson has been awarded many honors for his dedication to the oceans and to the planet. Among many commendations for his work, he received the Genesis Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998, was named as one of the Top 20 Environmental Heroes of the 20th Century by Time Magazine in 2000 and was inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame in Washington D.C. in 2002. He was also awarded the Amazon Peace Prize by the president of Ecuador in 2007. In 2012, Captain Watson became only the second person, after Captain Jacques Cousteau, to be awarded the Jules Verne Award, dedicated to environmentalists and adventurers. In 2022, Captain Paul Watson continues his fight for marine wildlife conservation with the new Captain Paul Watson Foundation – paulwatsonfoundation.org
Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She has a PhD in Geography from Queen’s University, and her research is focused on the significance of the problematization of urban animals. She was awarded the AASA Award for Popular Communication for her work on the podcast. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured:
- Hitman for the Kindness Club: High Seas Escapades and Heroic Adventures of an Eco-Activist by Pul Watson
- Sea of Heartbreak: An Extraordinary Account of a Newfoundland Fishing Voyage by Michael J. Dwyer.
- What a fish knows by Jonathan Balcombe
- The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett
Thank you to
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

S3E2: Pervasive Captivity with Nicolas Delon
The Animal Turn
04/19/21 • 64 min
In this episode Claudia talks to Nicholas Delon about ‘pervasive captivity’. Moving beyond a conception of captivity as only including those ‘behind bars’, they explore the many ways in which ‘the urban’ might operate to make animals captive by limiting their mobility and autonomy.
Date recorded: 15 March 2021
Nicolas Delon is Assistant Professor or philosophy and environmental studies at New College of Florida. He specializes in animal ethics, with particular interests in moral status and animal agency. He has published on these topics as well as the ethics of killing animals, urban animals, wild animal suffering, and Nietzsche, among other things. He’s currently working on a book project about animals and the moral community of persons. Check out his website (https://nicolasdelon.com/) or connect with him on Twitter (@NicoDelon)
Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured: The Ethics of Captivity and Entangled Empathy by Lori Gruen; The Global Pigeon and How Pigeons became Rats by Colin Jerolmack;
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.

S2E8: Shoalmates with Jonathan Balcombe
The Animal Turn
12/21/20 • 67 min
Claudia talks to Jonathan Balcombe about fishes and their varied and incredible experiences. Using the concept of ‘shoalmates’ as a launch pad, they discuss some of the intra- and inter-species relations fishes engage in from work to cuddle and play.
Date recorded: 30 November 2020
Jonathan Balcombe is a biologist with a PhD in ethology, the study of animal behavior. His books include Pleasurable Kingdom, Second Nature, The Exultant Ark, and What a Fish Knows—a New York Times best-seller now available in fifteen languages. His next book for grown-ups, Super Fly, will be published May 2021 by Penguin Books. A children’s story book about a boy and a fish is also scheduled for publication in 2021. He has taught courses in animal behavior and sentience for the Viridis Graduate Institute, and Humane Society University. He lives in Belleville, Ontario where in his spare time he enjoys biking, baking, birding, Bach, and trying to understand the neighborhood squirrels. Learn more about Jonathan and his work here.
Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the geographical and historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. Contact Claudia via email ([email protected]) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).
Featured: A foray into the worlds of animals and humans By Jakob von Uexküll; Sterling murmuration by canoeists; The Ocean Sunfishes by Tierney Thys et al; The Dark Hobby by Paradise Filmworks
Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast, Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, and Jeremy John (Website) for the logo.
The Animal Turn is part of the iROAR, an Animals Podcasting Network and can also be found on A.P.P.L.E, Twitter, and Instagram
A.P.P.L.EAnimals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Animal Turn is hosted and produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and is part of the iROAR Network. Learn more on our website.
- Leave a Review on Podchaser
- Check out The Animal Turn Merch.
- Support us on Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, and Buzzsprout.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Animal Turn have?
The Animal Turn currently has 92 episodes available.
What topics does The Animal Turn cover?
The podcast is about Animals, Law, Nature, Podcasts, Social Sciences, Science, Philosophy, Ethics and Politics.
What is the most popular episode on The Animal Turn?
The episode title 'Bonus: Koalas with Danielle Clode' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Animal Turn?
The average episode length on The Animal Turn is 73 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Animal Turn released?
Episodes of The Animal Turn are typically released every 14 days, 21 hours.
When was the first episode of The Animal Turn?
The first episode of The Animal Turn was released on Feb 24, 2020.
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Comments
@bethanykennard
Oct 18
Love love love! Entertaining and factual - Claudia is a great host and has the best guests
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