Dr. Vasile Stănescu

Dr. Vasile Stănescu is co-senior editor of the Critical Animal Studies book series published by Rodopi/Brill. He is the co-founder of the North American Association for Critical Animal Studies (NAACAS). His publications have appeared in journals such as the American Behavioral Scientist, Liberazioni – Rivista di critica antispecista [Liberations-Anti-Specieist Criticisms], The Journal of American Culture, Animal Studies Journal, and the Journal for Critical Animal Studies. Stănescu’s scholarship has been recognized by the Culture & Animals Foundation, Minding Animals International, The Institute for Critical Animal Studies, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Institutul Cultural Român, [Institute for Romanian Culture]. Stănescu’s scholarship has been translated into German, Slovenian, Romanian, and Japanese.

Dr. Stănescu also serves as the director of the University program in speech and debate, which has received multiple national awards.

Education

• Ph.D., Stanford University
• M.A., University of Texas at Dallas
• B.A., University of Texas at Dallas

Specialty

Critical animal studies, environmental rhetoric, health rhetoric, food studies, and social justice

Professional Interests

Dr. Stanescu’s research focuses on the greenwashing by animal agribusiness, critiques of humane meat, in vitro meat, and the failure of consumerist options for social change.

Recent Publications

• “The Rhetoric of Vegan/ Vegetarianism, and Health, Medicine, and Culture,” Rhetoric of Health & Medicine. (co-authored with Erin Trauth, Susan Levin, Carrie P. Freeman, Laura Wright, and Colleen Patrick- Goudreau). 4 (2). (2022): 246–273. doi: 10.5744/rhm.2021.2006. Invited.
• “Lost in Translation: Temple Grandin, Sexual Violence, & The Myth of Consent,” Disability and Animality: Crip Perspectives in Critical Animal Studies, Routledge. (2020). 161-181. Invited.
• “‘Cowgate:’ Meat Eating and Climate Change Denial” Climate Change Denial and Public Relations. Strategic Communication and Interest Groups in Climate Inaction Routledge. (2019):178-194. doi:10.4324/9781351121798. Invited
• “Selling Eden: Environmentalism, Local Meat, and the Postcommodity Fetish.” American Behavioral Scientist, (February 2019), 63 (8). doi:10.1177/0002764219830462. 1120-1136. Invited.
• “‘White Power Milk’: Milk, Dietary Racism, and the ‘Alt-Right,’” Animal Studies Journal, 7(2), 2018, 103-128. Invited
• “The Personal Is Political: Orthorexia Nervosa, the Pathogenization of Veganism, and Grief as a Political Act,” Animaladies. Bloomsbury. (2018). 137-154. (co-authored with James Stanescu).
• “The Judas Pig: The Killing of “Feral” Pigs on the Santa Cruz Islands, Biopolitics, and the Rise of the Post-Commodity Fetish.” The Ethics and Rhetoric of Invasion Ecology. Lexington Books. (2017): 61-86.
• “The Whopper Virgins: Hamburgers, Gender, and Xenophobia” Critical Perspectives on Meat Culture, Brill, (2016): 90-108.
• “The Future of Critical Animal Studies: From the Margins to the Center,” The Future of Critical Animals Studies: A Reader, Rutledge, (co-authored with Helena Pedersen), (2014): 262-276.
• “Crocodile Tears: Compassionate Carnivores and the Marketing of ‘Happy Meat’” Critical Animal Studies, Canadian Scholars Press, (2014): 216-233. Invited.
• “What Is ‘Critical’ About Animal Studies? From the Animal ‘Question’ To the Animal ‘Condition,’” in Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde, Rodopi Press (co-written with Helena Pedersen) (2012): 1-15.
• “Green” Eggs and Ham? The Myth of Sustainable Meat and the Danger of the Local,” The Journal for Critical Animal Studies, VIII. 1/2. (2010): 8-32.

Select Talks

• “Animal Realism: Consumerism as a Failed Strategy,” Viljandi, Estonia, 2021
• “The World is on Fire: Animal Agriculture, Climate Change, And the Path Forward,” University of Kent, 2021
• “Defining Critical Animal Studies,” Animals & Society Institute, 2019

Please visit Dr. Stănescu’s page at mercer.academia.edu/VasileStanescu to read additional publications.

Contact Dr. Vasile Stanescu

stanescu_vt@mercer.edu
Office: Langdale Hall, Room 218