Conference Panel at AASA 2021

Posted on November 24th, 2021

Together with Hélène Le Deunff, I will be co-convening a panel at the conference “Flourishing Animals” of the Australasian Animal Studies Association (AASA) which is happening online next week, 30 Nov – 2 Dec 2021.

With two other panellists, that is Jan Deckers from Newcastle University (UK) and Helena Röcklinsberg from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, we will discuss the intersection of sustainability and animal protection, the title of our panel being “Sustainability as a Promise of Flourishing in Light of the Animal Question”.

Despite the unsustainability of the dominant sustainability discourse and practice for animals, we argue not to discard the notion of sustainability and instead, explore how to advance its utility for animal flourishing. We offer four presentations of conceptual, ethical, and practice-oriented inquiries into the animalisation of sustainability, and will then open to discussion.

– Jan will demonstrate that strong anthropocentrism as a worldview disables any transition to sustainability and animal flourishing, discussing the unacknowledged strong anthropocentrism manifest in guiding documents of the Catholic Church. He will sketch a qualified vegan ethic as a critical corrective.

– Based on a paper published together with Torpman, Helena will provide an ethical evaluation of the underlying anthropocentric assumptions of the Sustainable Development Goals. She argues that there are no good reasons to uphold these assumptions, and that the SDGs should therefore be reconsidered so that they take animals into direct consideration.

– Hélène will experiment with a different understanding of what gets to count as “sustainable water access”. She proposes that animal water flourishing can help humans reimagine water well-being as multi-species and cooperative, for more sustainable futures.

– In my presentation, I will discuss my previous work where I developed a framework for interspecies sustainability. I will then provide a first outline of how the study of the transformation to interspecies sustainability relates to and can benefit from the field of transformations studies.

Following our presentations, we will open to discussion of our arguments and possible future directions, and will take questions from the audience.

We have set up a website for our panel with some background information, short bios, presentation abstracts and resources including references and links to our previous works closely related to our presentations.

For the Sydney Environment Institute Blog

Posted on November 5th, 2020

My piece “Sustainability and Thoroughbred Racing – An Oxymoron?” written for the blog of the Sydney Environment Institute was published on the day of the Melbourne Cup 3 November 2020. Two hours later, Anthony Van Dyck, a four year old Irish stallion, broke his fetlock 400m before the finish of the race, was taken away in an ambulance and killed / euthanised in the vet clinic the same day.

“Pandemic or not, the Spring Racing Carnival in Australia is in full swing. COVID-19, climate emergency, species extinction, habitat loss, our exceeding of planetary boundaries and reaching tipping points, all are confronting us with our failure at our quest for sustainability. A marker of this failure is that the dominant conceptions of sustainability, such as sustainable development, do not include the protection of animals. Yet, the evidence is clear that our health and sustainable future depends on the health and protection of nature and other animals. The question arises, what if we applied a theory of interspecies sustainability to all our interactions with other animals such as horseracing? How is the thoroughbred industry positioned to meet such a paradigm and what would it mean for the future of racing?…..”

More at https://sei.sydney.edu.au/opinion/sustainability-and-thoroughbred-racing-an-oxymoron/

New Publication: Thoroughbred Welfare, Naturalness and the Legitimacy of Racing

Posted on August 28th, 2020

My latest article has just been published: Naturalness and the Legitimacy of Thoroughbred Racing: A Photo-Elicitation Study with Industry and Animal Advocacy Informants. It has always been very interesting to me to see what kind of images of horses involved in racing the racing industry has used for their messaging. I kept wondering: Don’t they really look at the horse? Are they not worried about the kind of story the horse is telling the outside world about common racing practices? Turns out in some cases they are.

My recently published article brings into spotlight the impact of common racing practices on thoroughbreds, and the consequences of the racing industry’s non-recognition of these impacts.

The international thoroughbred industry is concerned about the public’s perception of racing. In terms of welfare, their priorities are to address the publicly most visible and known welfare violations: Drugs and medication in racing, injury and death on the racetrack and “wastage” (the fate of thoroughbreds no longer used in racing). But many common day-to-day racing practices also impact thoroughbred welfare.

For this study, key industry informants and animal advocacy informants were interviewed to find out how they view common racing practices. For the interviews, photographs of thoroughbreds on raceday were used, which the informants were asked to describe.

Results show industry informants mostly naturalise, normalise, downplay or ignore the horses’ expressions, the impact of handling on the horse and the use of equipment. Most saw the thoroughbred as a willing participant even in the presence of behavioural and emotional expressions that indicated stress, fear and pain. They tended to use assumptions of the nature of thoroughbreds as explanations for the thoroughbreds’ emotional and behavioural expressions. The industry informants and the thoroughbred industry at large see nature as a limiting factor to be overcome through invasive means.

The animal advocacy informants also used assumptions about the nature of the horse as an explanation for the thoroughbreds’ mental and behavioural expressions on raceday. However, they tended to view the thoroughbreds’ assumed mental and behavioural predispositions as an explanation for why racing practices are not in the interest of their welfare. They mostly saw the thoroughbreds’ expressions as indicating stress, agitation, being disturbed and experiencing anxiety. They tended to see a horse whose nature is violated.

The study concludes that the industry informants show limited interest in addressing common racing practices, and this places thoroughbred welfare at risk. The notion of naturalness emerges as a relevant concept that can be used to advance the animal protection discourse.

The study also demonstrates the application of an analytical tool, the Layers of Engagement with Animal Protection, that can be adopted to interrogate other human-animal relationships, multispecies communities and animal industries.

With society’s understanding of welfare and of racing practices growing, the racing industry may be increasingly questioned about common racing practices.

Next time you see a thoroughbred in person or in an image on raceday, perhaps ask yourself what it is that you see. Perhaps you see something different before and after you have read the article…

Bergmann, Iris M. 2020. Naturalness and the Legitimacy of Thoroughbred Racing: A Photo-Elicitation Study with Industry and Animal Advocacy Informants. Animals 10(9): 1513. DOI: 10.3390/ani10091513.

Last edited 24/10/2020

Just published in the journal Sustainability

Posted on October 25th, 2019

So pleased to see this published. What kept me going was the desire to give the horses in the racing industry a voice.

Bergmann, Iris M. 2019. Interspecies Sustainability to Ensure Animal Protection: Lessons from the Thoroughbred Racing Industry. Sustainability 11(19), 5539.

Abstract: There is a disconnect between dominant conceptions of sustainability and the protection of animals arising from the anthropocentric orientation of most conceptualisations of sustainability, including sustainable development. Critiques of this disconnect are primarily based in the context of industrial animal agriculture and a general model of a species-inclusive conception of sustainability has yet to emerge. The original contribution of this article is two-fold: First, it develops a theoretical framework for interspecies sustainability. Second, it applies this to a case study of the thoroughbred racing industry. Interviews were conducted with thoroughbred industry and animal advocacy informants in the US, Australia and Great Britain. While industry informants claim thoroughbred welfare is seminal for industry sustainability, they adopt a market-oriented anthropocentric conception of sustainability and do not consider animal welfare a sustainability domain in its own right. Animal advocacy informants demonstrate a deeper understanding of welfare but some express discomfort about linking sustainability, welfare and racing. Eight analytical layers have been identified in the discourse in the interface of sustainability and animal protection, of which two have transformational potential to advance interspecies sustainability. Interspecies sustainability urgently needs to be advanced to ensure animal protection in the sustainability transition, and to not leave the defining of animal welfare and sustainability to animal industries.

Abstract: He Loves to Race – or Does He? Ethics and Welfare in Racing

Posted on April 29th, 2019

So wonderful to receive this book with my chapter in the mail!

Abstract: This chapter explores how representatives of the thoroughbred racing industry conceptualise thoroughbred welfare, what their ethical underpinnings are, how this contrasts with welfare conceptions expressed by thoroughbred protection advocates and what this means for thoroughbred welfare. The research presented here is part of a larger study that investigates the future for horses in thoroughbred racing and the sustainability of welfare concepts. Nine industry representatives from the US and Australia, and seven representatives of thoroughbred advocacy organisations from the US, Australia and Great Britain, have been interviewed. Industry informants characterise welfare mainly in terms of basic health and functioning. The welfare dimensions of thoroughbred agency, integrity and telos are largely ignored. Three main groups of welfare issues emerge: the use and potential overuse of drugs and medication; injuries and death on the racetrack; and the aftercare of thoroughbreds exiting the industry. It appears the industry pursues three objectives with their welfare initiatives: to address only the most egregious welfare violations of industry practices on and off the track; to influence the public’s perception of the industry and its treatment of the thoroughbred; and to focus on productivity, efficiency and optimisation of the commodifiable characteristics of the thoroughbred. It is not likely that this will result in net gains for thoroughbred welfare.

(Abstract for indexing purposes, not included in published version.)

Bergmann, Iris. 2019. “He Loves to Race – or Does He? Ethics and Welfare in Racing.” In Equine Cultures in Transition: Ethical Questions, 1st edition, edited by Jonna Bornemark, Petra Andersson and Ulla Ekström von Essen. Routledge Advances in Sociology. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 117-133.

DOI: 10.4324/9781351002479-9 Pre-proof

Last edited 25.10.2019

Book Chapter in “Equine Cultures in Transition: Ethical Questions”

Posted on November 5th, 2018

Cover of book: Equine Cultures in Transition, Ethical Questions, 1st Edition

The wonderful team of editors in Stockholm, Jonna Bornemark, Petra Andersson and Ulla Ekström von Essen, have compiled a book titled “Equine Cultures in Transition: Ethical Questions”, in publication by Routledge, with 16 intriguing chapters, mostly drawing on presenters of the Equine Cultures conference in Stockholm in 2016. I am proud to be part of this volume and am looking forward to seeing the finished publication, due in January 2019.

With my chapter: “He Loves to Race – or does He? Ethics and Welfare in Racing”, I present part of the results of my interview study involving nine thoroughbred racing industry representatives from the US and Australia, and seven representatives of thoroughbred advocacy organisations from the US, Australia and Great Britain.

The results of my study published in this chapter show that thoroughbred welfare is conceptualised by the participants in three groups of welfare issues:

the use and potential overuse of drugs and medication;
injuries and death on the racetrack; and
the aftercare of thoroughbreds exiting the industry.

Furthermore, it appears that the thoroughbred racing industry pursues three objectives with their welfare initiatives:

to address the most egregious welfare violations of industry practices on and off the track;
to influence the public’s perception of the industry and its treatment of the thoroughbred; and
to focus on productivity, efficiency and optimisation of the commodifiable characteristics of the thoroughbred.

In conclusion, some of the welfare initiatives can be expected to benefit individual thoroughbreds, but it is not clear whether this will lead to net gains for thoroughbred welfare in the racing industry overall.

The book’s chapters are arranged under five themes, with my chapter included under “Problematic practices?” (the other practice addressed here is dressage). The four other themes are Horses at work; Leadership, power, and training methodology; Negotiations in contemporary dressage; and Horse keeping.

Citation: Bergmann, Iris. 2019. He Loves to Race – or Does He? Ethics and Welfare in Racing. In Equine Cultures in Transition: Ethical Questions, 1st edition, edited by Jonna Bornemark, Petra Andersson and Ulla Ekström von Essen. Routledge Advances in Sociology. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 117-133. Pre-proof.

Last edited 25.10.2019

Invited Talk – ITBF Congress in Cape Town 6-12.1.2017

Posted on February 14th, 2017

Presenting at the ITBF 2017 Congress in Cape Town

I had been given the opportunity to present the first findings of my interview study to an industry group. The International Thoroughbred Breeders Federation (ITBF) had invited me to speak at their Annual Congress in Cape Town 6-12 January 2017. A video recording of my presentation can be viewed online here.

An article with an overview of my talk appeared as a teaser to the event in the Sportingpost of South Africa.

The ITBF has funded my travel and accommodation to Cape Town to deliver the invited presentation. The research however has been independently funded through a University of Sydney Postgraduate Scholarship, out of an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (ARC DP130104933).

In the Media – Epona.tv

Posted on January 31st, 2017

Sustainability, Welfare and Thoroughbred Racing on EponaTV

Following my talk in Stockholm at the Equine Cultures in Transition Conference, Julie Taylor from Epona.tv asked for an interview.

In the interview with her, while I was thinking through the issues we were discussing, I have (re-)discovered yet another overlap between the animal welfare and the sustainability debate. As she summarises in her intro:

“How our unacknowledged value systems muddle the debate”

“Sustainability” is something of a buzz word in the horse industries. But it means different things to different people, as does the word “welfare”. And until we each investigate and lay open our values regarding horses, we cannot have a meaningful debate about right and wrong, says University of Sydney’s Dr. Iris Bergman, whose research is mapping out exactly what divides horse welfare advocates and industry stake holders in the animal rights and welfare debate.

Last edited 17.8.2018: Link to interview updated due to migration of Epona.tv site

Equine Cultures in Transition Conference, Stockholm 2016

Posted on November 29th, 2016

Thoroughbred at the starting gate of a race, Iffezheim, 2015. Photo: Iris Bergmann

Thoroughbred at the starting gate of a race, Iffezheim, 2015. Photo: IB

I have attended the Conference “Equine Cultures in Transition – Human-horse relationships in theory and practice: changing concepts of interaction and ethics”, in Stockholm, 27-29 October 2016. The conference had been organised by the Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge, and was held at the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Although it was not framed as such, this conference did make a valuable contribution to the range of questions that need to be addressed to advance the transition to a truly sustainable future, where sustainability extends to human-animal relationships. Viewed with that perspective in mind, the conference also demonstrated the seminal role of the social sciences and the humanities in advancing the sustainability transition.

This conference overall presented a rather holistic approach to human-animal relationships. Although the ongoing use of horses for human purposes was still in the foreground and approved, there was a lot of soul searching and questioning of our relationship with horses. The majority of the 60+ presenters were riders (leisure and competition riders), and therapists using horses. There apparently were also some who opposed riding horses (although I have not met one as far as I am aware). One of the therapists had decided to sell her therapy horses as her doubts about this practice had increased during the course of doing her PhD on this topic. (I would like to think she wished she could have been able to retire them at her place.)

I was most intrigued by individuals experimenting with more open, free-form human-horse relationships, where the aim is to facilitate the horse taking a leadership role in horse-human interactions, including in the practice of horse riding.

In my talk, I presented preliminary results of the interview study of my project. I focused on the mental models of thoroughbred welfare held by industry participants and those held by representatives of animal protection organisations who engage with thoroughbred welfare in racing. I compared the mental models of welfare of these two groups and related them to conceptions of sustainability.

During the wrap-up of the conference, Lynda Birke (Universities of Chester and Glyndwr, UK) summarised the emerging themes as follows:

A desire for the horse’s voice to be heard with implications for methodological and ethical issues, and with an acknowledgment of the need for mixed-method approaches.
A search for ethical frameworks for our interaction with horses.
Accountability: The desire to make research matter, and being accountable to the subjects of the research – in terms of what is the impact on the horses, and humans, involved.

There was plenty of enthusiasm to continue with this conference stream under the same title, with the word going around that the next one might be held at Leeds, UK, in 2018.

Last edited 13.11.2018

Symposium on the Ethics and Business of Thoroughbred Racing held in Germany

Posted on January 27th, 2016

It is about a year ago that the German publisher “Hippiatrika” had invited me onto their conference board to contribute to the planning of the German Equine Veterinary Symposium in 2015. It is not often that ‘the industry’ reaches out to animal studies scholars and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to play a part in this event.

Hippiatrika holds their symposia on Equine Veterinary Medicine annually, and last year, the topic was “Business and Ethics of Racing and The Role of the Veterinarian” (Conference Brochure pdf 400KB). I had attended a seminar held by Racing Victoria of the same title in August 2014, and thus this seminar here in Victoria had unexpectedly provided inspiration across the globe to Germany.

The Hippiatrika Symposium was held in English, with participants and presenters coming from Germany, Ireland, the UK, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. It took place in Baden-Baden, Germany, 28-30 August 2015, and coincided with the races in Iffezheim.

I had been invited to give two talks. The first talk focussed on sustainability as a framework for thoroughbred protection, and the second one on the welfare model espoused by the thoroughbred racing industry, as it emerges from a content analysis of industry websites. The first talk is based on my paper published in the Hippiatrika journal “Pferdeheilkunde”. “Pferdeheilkunde” is the peer-reviewed journal of the Equine Medical Section of the German Veterinary Association. The publisher kindly allowed me to make the article available (pdf 130KB). Abstracts of most of the other talks of the event in Germany are published in the same issue of the journal.

Last edited 16.9.2016