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Education

• BA, Queen’s University
• B Ed., University of Toronto
• MA, Carleton University

Specializations / Research Interests

Animals Politics, Animal Ethics, Political Theory, Feminist Philosophy

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Sue Donaldson followed an unconventional path as teacher, writer and advocate before finding a home in political philosophy. Her research, situated in the ‘political turn’ in animal rights theory, explores the implications of recognizing animals as members of social, cultural, and political communities. What would it mean to live with other animals in relationships of mutual respect and flourishing instead of tyranny and exploitation? Sue’s work centres animals’ rights to collective self-determination, and to co-authorship of their relationships with humans through practices of citizenship, denizenship and treaty diplomacy. This work draws insights from citizenship theory, feminist and decolonial political theory, disability theory, children's rights theory, democratic theory, ethology, and ecological ethics; as well as practical "experiments in living" such as animal sanctuaries and intentional communities.  Sue is the co-author (with Will Kymlicka) of Animals and the Right to Politics (Oxford UP 2025) and Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford UP 2011). She has published more than 40 academic articles, as well as contributing dozens of essays, columns and interviews on animal-related topics for popular media. Sue is co-convenor of the  research group at Queen’s. APPLE sponsors animal studies talks, workshops, reading groups, public outreach, and the ‘Animal Turn’ podcast.

Books

• Animals and the Right to Politics (Oxford UP 2025). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosopher’s Brief (Routledge 2018) Co-authored with 12 other philosophers.
• Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford UP 2011). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka. Winner of the 2013 Canadian Philosophical Association book prize.
• Thread of Deceit (Sumach Press 2004) Short-listed for an Arthur Ellis crime writing award.
• Foods that Don’t Bite Back (Arsenal Pulp Press/Whitecap Books, 2003)

Selected Journal Articles

• “Animal Ghosts at Canadian Universities: The politics of concealment and transparency.” Animals 13(24) 3760 (2023). Co-authored with Laura Janara.
• “Doing Politics with Animals”, Social Research 90/4 (2023). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Realizing Interspecies Democracy: The preconditions for an egalitarian, multispecies world,” A trialogue with Jean-Paul Gagnon and Janneke Vink. Democratic Theory 8/1 (2021).
• “Animal Agora: Animal citizens and the democratic challenge”, Social Theory and Practice 46/4 (2020).
• “Animal Agency in Community: A Political Multispecies Ethnography of VINE Sanctuary”, Politics and Animals 6 (2020). Co-authored with Charlotte Blattner and Ryan Wilcox.
• “Locating Animals in Political Philosophy”, Philosophy Compass 11/1 (2016). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “A Sustainable Campus: The Sydney Declaration on Interspecies Sustainability”, Animal Studies Journal, Vol. 5/1, (2016). Co-authored with 10 colleagues.
• “Farmed Animal Sanctuaries: The Heart of the Movement?” Politics & Animals 1 (2015). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Interspecies Politics: Reply to Hinchcliffe and Ladwig”, Journal of Political Philosophy 23/3 (2015). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Animal Rights, Multiculturalism and the Left”, Journal of Social Philosophy 45/1 (2014). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Unruly Beasts: Animal Citizens and the Threat of Tyranny”, Canadian Journal of Political Science 47/1 (2014). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka
• “Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship”, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 34/2 (2014). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Reply: Animal Citizenship, Liberal Theory and the Historical Moment”, Dialogue 52/4 (2013). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Reply to Svärd, Nurse, and Ryland”, Journal of Animal Ethics 3/2 (2013).
• “A Defense of Animal Citizens and Sovereigns”, Law, Ethics and Philosophy 1/1 (2013). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.

Selected Chapters in Books

• “Solidarity with Animals: The case of domesticated animals” in A. Cochrane and M-D Cojocaru (eds) Solidarity with Animals: Promises, pitfalls and potential. (OUP 2024). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Transformative Animal Protection”, in V. Giroux, A. Pepper and K. Voigt (eds) The Ethics of Animal Shelters. (OUP 2023). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
•  “Animal Labour in a Post-Work Society”, in C.Blattner, K. Coulter and W. Kymlicka (eds) Animal Labour: A new frontier in interspecies justice? (OUP 2019). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
•  “Metics, Members and Citizens”, in Rainer Bauböck (ed) Democratic Inclusion: Rainer Bauböck in Dialogue (Manchester UP 2018). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Rethinking Membership and Participation in an Inclusive Democracy: Cognitive Disability, Children, Animals” in Barbara Arneil and Nancy Hirschmann (eds) Disability and Political Theory (Cambridge UP 2017). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka
• “Born Allies: Children and Animals” in Laura Buzzard et. al (eds) The Broadview Anthology of Expository Prose, 3rd Canadian Edition (Broadview Press 2017). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Between Wild and Domesticated”, in Bernice Bovenkerk and Jozef Keulartz (eds) Animal Ethics in the Age of Humans: Blurring boundaries in human-animal relationships (Springer 2016). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Make it So: Envisaging a Zoopolitical Revolution” in Paola Cavalieri (ed) Philosophy and the Politics of Animal Liberation (Palgrave Macmillan 2016). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Animal Rights and Aboriginal Rights”, in Vaughan Black, Peter Sankoff and Katie Sykes (eds), Perspectives on Animals and the Law in Canada (Irwin Law, 2015). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “From Polis to Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights” in Karen Wendling (ed) Ethics in Canada: Ethical, Social and Political Perspectives (OUP 2015). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.

Encyclopedia & Handbook Entries

•  “Sanctuary Communities” in Y. Athanassakis et al (eds) The Plant-based and Vegan Handbook (Springer 2024).
• “Refuge d’animaux”, in Renan Larue (ed.) La pensée végane (PUF 2020).
• “Rights”, in Lori Gruen (ed) Critical Terms in Animal Studies (University of Chicago Press 2018). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Children and Animals” in Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Childhood and Children (Routledge 2018). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Inclusive Citizenship beyond the Capacity Contract” in Ayelet Shachar et al. (eds) Oxford Handbook of Citizenship (OUP 2017). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.
• “Animals in Political Theory” in Linda Kalof (ed) The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies (OUP 2017). Co-authored with Will Kymlicka.