S7E5: Marginalized Multispecies Collectives with Oswaldo Santos Baquero
Join us for a conversation with Oswaldo Santos Baquero about marginalized multispecies collectives. He explains the complexities of biological taxonomy and challenges traditional definitions of species to instead think about how collectives operate. By critically analyzing health practices through the lens of multispecies marginalization, Oswaldo challenges us to reconsider the economic interests that often overshadow the well-being of both animals and humans.
About Oswaldo Santos Baquero
Oswaldo Santos Baquero is a professor in the Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of São Paulo and in the Peripheries Research Group at the Institute of Advanced Studies. He coordinates the Multispecies Health Network (MUHE Network), dedicated to the (re)production of the good life (buen vivir) of marginalised multispecies collectives. He has a degree in veterinary medicine (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), a PhD in epidemiology from the University of São Paulo (USP), a post-doctorate in public health (USP) and a specialisation in data science (Johns Hopkins University). He works with and had published on matters related to decolonisation, biopolitics, political ecology and science and technology studies.
Featured:
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Staying with the Trouble by Donna Harraway
Meeting the Universe Halfway by Karen Barad
Animal Rights/Human Rights by David Nibert
ANIMAL HIGHLIGHT:
Priyanshu Thapliyal tells us a story about Sammy, a dog who formed a relationship with someone in a market place, who was fed chicken feet, and who was also attacked by a leopard. He uses this story to give insights into the lives of dogs in India and to raise questions about how we can understand marginalized multispecies collectives.
Sammy
“Multispecies health involves decolonial life experiences, understandings and transformations; it is a praxis of actions informed by knowledge of the pathological effects of marginalisation, which builds knowledge from those actions; it is an invitation and a choice to be and live differently, interested in the multispecies good life (buen vivier), and therefore increasingly distant from the colonial-capitalist-modern centre that provides comfort to the few – mainly white people – at the expense of the oppression of the many. Multispecies health is another way of multiplying the ongoing decolonial flight” (The MUHE Network).
Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) for sponsoring this podcast; Remaking One Health (ROH) Indies for sponsoring this season; and the Phoenix Zones Initiative (PZI) for sponsoring this episode. Gordon Clarke (Instagram: @_con_sol_) for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for her design work, Priyanshu Thapliyal for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for his audio editing. This episode was produced by the host Claudia Towne Hirtenfelder.
