The Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies organises the DOING GENDER Lecture Series in cooperation with her partners. These lectures stress the importance of doing gender work combined with an active involvement in the practice of gender theory and research. The concept of DOING GENDER supports a hands-on approach to gender issues in the sense of social and political engagement with the new forms of gender inequalities that are taking shape in the world today. The lecture series wants to give space to the new generations of gender theorists and practitioners and to perspectives that innovate the field and do gender in new ways. Key is the notion of doing gender: what is the state of the art definition of gender? How do contemporary scholars and activists utilise this definition?
On Tuesday, October 14 2025, Prof. Leticia Flores Farfán will give a Doing Gender Lecture entitled Animalism Meets Feminism: Epistemic and Ethico-Political Perspectives.
The lecture is followed by a masterclass by Prof. Leticia Farfán and Mayahuel Mojaro, MA, which will take place on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, entitled Anti-Speciesist Feminism and Multispecies Urban Futures: The Case of Mexico City. This masterclass requires separate registration.
The Doing Gender Lecture series for 2025-2026 will be framed around the theme of Feminist Solidarity in Times of War.
Lecture: Animalism Meets Feminism: Epistemic and Ethico-Political Perspectives
This lecture examines contemporary intersections between feminism and animalism through two main approaches: ethical-political and epistemological. The ethical-political perspective, developed by scholars such as Carol Adams, Catia Faria, Isabel Balza, and Lidia Guerra, highlights the structural links between the oppression of women and the exploitation of animals, positioning veganism as a crucial political practice. In contrast, the epistemological approach, grounded in Vinciane Despret’s philosophical ethology, interrogates how scientific practices shape knowledge of animals and emphasizes processes of co-construction between humans and nonhumans. Drawing on examples from Thelma Rowell, Hans the horse, Alex the parrot, and Barbara Smuts, Despret reveals how feminist epistemologies challenge dominant notions of objectivity while recognizing animal agency. By bringing these perspectives into dialogue, the lecture reveals both their tensions and convergences. Whereas the ethical-political view stresses the urgency of liberation and justice, the epistemological approach enriches this horizon by demonstrating how capacities emerge through interspecies relationships. Together, they converge in contesting androcentric science, valuing marginalized voices, and reimagining more generous human–animal relations. Such synthesis underscores the need for both political urgency and epistemological depth in confronting today’s ecological crisis.
Masterclass: Anti-Speciesist Feminism and Multispecies Urban Futures: The Case of Mexico City
Dr. Leticia Flores Farfán, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Mayahuel Mojaro, MA, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
This session proposes a genealogy of anti-speciesist feminism, aiming to establish its main theoretical and political foundations. At the same time, we examine the anthropocentrism that persists in certain ecofeminist currents, to connect this critique to a preliminary definition of anti-speciesist feminism, supported by the approaches of philosophers such as Catia Faria, Alicia Puleo, and Lizbeth Sagols, among others.
Once the conceptual framework for examining the intersection of feminism and animal ethics is established, we will turn to the notion of multispecies living. Emerging from recent debates in critical urbanism, this concept provides a lens to understand how urban planning actively shapes the coexistence between humans and non-human animals in the city. It encompasses relationships with domesticated and liminal animals but also extends to farmed species and those commonly labeled as “pests.”
The session ends with a case study on Mexico City, helping us concretely understand some of the theoretical points from earlier and emphasizing the connection between multispecies cities and anti-speciesist feminist proposals.
Biography:
Dr. Leticia Flores Farfán is a Mexican philosopher and full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), as well as a Level II member of the Mexican National System of Researchers (SNI). Aditionally, she is director of the Gender Studies Program at UNAM. Her research interests include the philosophy of culture and film, political philosophy, ethics (with a focus on animal ethics), and studies on emotion and subjectivity. She has published extensively on memory and violence in Mexico, human-animal distinctions in early modern philosophy, and the political and symbolic aspects of violence in Ancient Greek tragedy. She has authored several books, including: “Georges Bataille: eroticism and the constitution of transformative agents” (2004), “Athens, City of Athena: Myths and Politics in the ancient Greek Democracy” (2006), “In the Mirror of Your Eyes: Essays on Otherness in Ancient Greece” (2013), “Tremors in the Soul. Fragments of a history of intimacy in ancient Greece” (2014), “Greek Works for a Lecixon of Political Philosophy” (2020), “Philosophical Keys to the Animal Question” (2020) (edited by her), and “Philosophers and animals” (Series: Antiquity; Renaissance and Modernity; Contemporary Era I & II) (Edited by her).
Doing Gender Lecture by Prof. Leticia Farfán
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Lecture: Animalism Meets Feminism: Epistemic and Ethico-Political Perspectives
Time: 17:15 – 18:45 hrs.
Location: Drift 25, Room 002.
Chair: Dr. Ana Miranda Mora
Registration: nog@uu.nl
Reading and Preparation:
Masterclass by Prof. Leticia Farfán and Mayahuel Mojaro
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Masterclass: Anti-Speciesist Feminism and Multispecies Urban Futures: The Case of Mexico City
Time: TBA
Location: TBA, Utrecht University
ECTS: more details to follow
Reading and Preparation: more details to follow
Registration: Please send an email with “registration masterclass Farfán” as a subject line to nog@uu.nl
