Where in the World is pattrice jones?

Some of our long-term supporters have wondered what sanctuary cofounder pattrice jones is up to now that she’s not living at the sanctuary. While no longer living on-site, pattrice continues to be intimately involved with our operations. She has used the respite from the daily demands of sanctuary life to author scholarly articles rooted in her observations of and work with the birds at the sanctuary. One of these, which appears in the current issue of Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, draws upon stories from the sanctuary to illustrate parallels between human and avian psychology. Another, which will appear in the forthcoming August issue of Feminism and Psychology, draws upon our fighting rooster rehabilitation program to illustrate connections between speciesism, sexism, and racism and to argue for an ecofeminist psychology encompassing the concerns of animals.

At present, pattrice is working on a book-length work of creative non-fiction that situates the foundation of the sanctuary (and the stories of its first feathered and furry inhabitants) within the context of a locality perverted by the poultry industry and the legacies of slavery, mapping that locality within a global economy in which people, animals, and ecosystems all are menaced by the same mindset. This work, which weaves stories from the sanctuary through thought-provoking illustrations of the intersection of oppressions, is being written for a general audience (especially all of those birdwatchers who don’t think of chickens as birds and all of those liberals who don’t see how speciesism is connected to problems like racism and poverty) rather than for people who are already vegan animal rights activists. She has been monomaniacally pounding it out this summer and hopes to be finished by late August.

pattrice at TLOV (Photo, Carol J. Adams)

After helping to relocate the sanctuary, pattrice moved to Minnesota, where she teaches at a community college in Minneapolis and a University in St. Paul, bicycling everywhere. Her psychology and women’s studies students have been not only accepting but often actively grateful for her inclusion of animals and their concerns in her curricula. Since moving to the Twin Cities, pattrice also has spoken at a green living event, a local lesbian bookstore, and the recent TLOV conference, at which she gave a talk on “queering animal liberation.” She’ll be at AR2010 in D.C. later this month. If you’re going, check out her presentations on nurturing activism, forging coalitions, commonality of oppressions, and new challenges for animal liberation as well as her workshop on dealing with grief and stress.