Ben Almassi on Reparative Justice

Thought About Food Podcast

This episode we spoke with Ben Almassi about his new book, which looks at reparative justice for our relationship with non-humans, including other animals and entire ecosystems. We talked about a lot of topics and quite a lot of other interesting works and people for you to explore, so check out the show notes!

Show Notes:

• Ben's book is called Reparative Environmental Justice in a World of Wounds, and is available for pre-order.
• Follow us on Twitter at @FoodThoughtPod, and you can drop us a line at ThoughtAboutFood on Gmail. Consider leaving us a review wherever you found the show!
• I'm organizing an online workshop with my colleague Michael Butler. It's called Digital Worlds, and the goal of the workshop is to interrogate the way modern digital technology enhances, hampers, or alters our experience of our lived worlds. If you're interested in participating or just attending, check out the website for the workshop at digitalworldsworkshop.wordpress.com
• Ben Almassi is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Governors State University in Chicago's Southland.
• Margaret Urban Walker's work on Reparative Justice is an important influence on Ben's book. One place you could read more is in the book Moral Repair: Reconstructing Moral Relations after Wrongdoing.
• Eric Katz wrote a response to some of Ben's ideas, which as he says in the podcast he was able to respond to in his book (as always: if you think you don't have access to this article, you actually might through your library etc. Email the podcast if you'd like some advice on how to find out if you can actually access it).
• Ben mentions a number of other thinkers and writers, including Aldo Leopold on being in relationship with ecosystems; Annette Baier on trust; Robin Kimerrer on ecological restoration and gratitude; Edith Brown Weiss on our duties to past and future generations; Charles Mills on ideal and non-ideal theory; Deborah McGregor on responding to environmental racism; Arthur Fine and the importance of engaged, responsive philosophy; and an extended discussion about Kyle Powys Whyte and his work on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, particularly for its governance value.
• We also discussed an important case study in Ben's book of the Chicago Wilderness alliance. Check them out!
• Ben defends Kale and the surprisingly delicious but often maligned Kale salad as the food he shares with us. Isa Chandra Moskowitz has two phenomenal kale salad recipes you might want to check out, one for kale Caesar salad, and one for a kale, lentil, and butternut squash salad for a colder day.
• The intro and outro music is "Whiskey Before Breakfast" which is both a great traditional song and a good way to cope with living in a pandemic but not a homemade alternative to a vaccine. It was performed and shared by The Dan River Ramblers under a Creative Commons license.