In this episode, we explore interrelated strands that connect the animal activism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We learn about the “monstrous veganism” of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) with scholar Emelia Quinn; we explore the radical Quaker vision of Donald Watson, the co-founder of the Vegan Society (1944) with Kate Stewart and Matthew Cole. With novelist Paula Owen we enter the world of antivivisectionists Lizzy Linda af Hageby and Liesa Schartau in the “Little Brown Dog” riots of the early 1900s; and Tony Milligan tells us about the tragic story of Laika, who in 1957 became the first animal in space.

The threads that weave the centuries together are the power of memorials both to affirm the hero and to stir unrest; the effects of war on animal advocacy; and the century-long challenges between attempting to moderate institutional cruelty and indifference and espousing a more radical vision of social change, veganism, and ending animal exploitation. You can learn more about veganism through this free module that Dr Cole has produced for the Open University: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/veganism

Episode 4 is available on all seven of the podcast links above.