Hello 2024!
- Claudia Hirtenfelder
- Jan 20, 2024
- 3 min read
Last year was a big year for the podcast and I have little doubt that this year will see the podcast grow even more. In this post I give a quick overview of some of our achievements in 2023 as well as some of our plans for this coming year. Have some thoughts and ideas? Leave a comment or get in touch via email (info@theanimalturnpodcast.com).
The Year of the Water Rabbit (2023)
A year of big changes and exciting developments.
According to the Chinese Calendar 2023 was the "water rabbit", a zodiac that symbolizes peace and hope. For me the year can only be described as a year of change. I developed and taught a course on urban animal histories and geographies at Queen's University, finished my PhD, and moved from Canada to Austria - to join my husband (Oliver) and dog (Linus) in Vienna. I have spent the last six months in the grueling process of applying for and being rejected from jobs but through it all the podcast has remained a constant. While 2023 was a slightly rocky year for me personally, it has been a remarkable year for the podcast.
In 2023, the podcast was downloaded over 11,500 times and listened to in over 72 countries. Most listeners were in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada but the city with the most listens was Sydney. Despite only being released in September, the interview with Will Kymlicka about Politics was the most downloaded episode of the year. Other popular episodes included my conversations with Dinesh Wadiwel and Josh Milburn about "violence" and "justice" respectively.
We also received a lot of love from fans with numerous 5 star ratings on a range of platforms and several wonderful reviews. Inedia said on Podchaser that they "learned so much" and on Apple Siobhan said this is her "most anticipated podcast." On Spotify, The Animal Turn is a top 10 podcast for 212 fans, a top 5 podcast for 132 fans, and the number 1 podcast for 32 fans! According to Listen Notes, The Animal Turn Podcast is in the top 10% of podcasts globally. WOAH!
Thank you for all of the love and support. Your ratings and reviews go a long way in helping others to find the podcast and in letting me know what you think about the show. I know they take time and effort to do, so thank you!
Another special thank you to the listeners who engaged in conversation via email and those who were seeking out ways to use podcast material in your classrooms. In the words of Ted Lasso, "I appreciate you!"
Want more insights into our achievements in 2023? Particularly noteworthy, in September 2023 The Animal Turn got significantly bigger when we welcomed five new fellows to the team. October was also a big month, not only did we launch Season 6 but we were shortlisted for two awards in the International Women's Podcasting Awards. Find out more about what we did in 2023 by selecting a month below:
January
We started the year with a continuation of Season 5, "Animals and Biosecurity." Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Uganda's first wildlife vet and founder of Conservation Through Public Health, explained the significance of "Community Led Conservation" in addressing global health challenges.
That was followed by a conversation with Nina Jamal, a policy strategist at Four Paws in Vienna, about "One Health" a concept that has gained traction in academia and international organizations.
February
In February we finished the season on biosecurity with a grad review. Oliver French and Amanda Bunten-Walberg joined me on the show to give their thoughts about tensions and synergies that emerged throughout the interviews. As Steve Hinchliffe highlighted biosecurity is political because it involves trying to keep life safe. This raises numerous questions related to bioethics including how to manage feral or invasive species, animal testing, farm activism, and the politics of domestication.
The biosecurity season was jointly sponsored by Animals in Politics, Philosophy, Law and Ethics (A.P.P.L.E) and the Biosecurities Urban Governance Research Collective. Christiaan Mentz joined the Animal Turn team as our resident sound editor/producer and the animal highlights were done by Amanda Bunten-Wahlberg. I am constantly humbled by the willingness of people to give freely of their time to the development of The Animal Turn. Thank you. I couldn't do this without you.
March
At this point I was teaching a course I developed called "Urban Animals Histories and Geographies." I was also deep into the writing stages of my PhD and in the process of trying to move to Austria. So I slowed down a little bit with the podcast and decided to see what I could do in the way of bonus content.
April
I had a brilliant (and extremely fun) conversation with Jules Howard about his book Wonderdog. We focused on the idea of "wonder" and how important it is to the scientific process and to thinking about and appreciating animals. Personally, I was packing up my life in Canada and saying goodbye to many good friends and colleagues. A highlight was giving the Heritage Hour Lecture in Kingston's City Hall. What a surreal moment. I arrived in Canada in 2018 as an international student, and I left giving a lecture in city hall about the city's past.
May
I flew to Austria and was reunited with my husband (Oliver) and dog (Linus). Yay!
June
Two more bonus book review episodes. In the first Danielle Clode told us all about koalas and their fascinating biology, history, and geography. In the second, Yamini Narayanan and I spoke about the the concept of mother and how it shapes the lives of cows in India.
I was also delighted to moderate a panel for the launch of Arukah Animal International. The panel included Marc Bekoff, Jeff Sebo, Dana Ellyn, Annie Potts, and Steve Jenkins. They discussed everything from California’s Prop 12 to pluralism and art.
July
I successfully defended my PhD! Woot!
I spoke with Josh Milburn, a political philosopher and host of the Knowing Animals Podcast, about "justice" and his recent book "Food, Animals, and Justice"
It was also an exciting month because we put out our first ever call or animal turn fellows!
August
Our team got significantly bigger in August as we welcomed 5 fellows: Virginia Thomas, Rosa Dyer, Rebecca Shen, Herre de Bondt, and Altamush Saeed. Each of the fellows have been working on animal highlight scripts learning a range of skills related to podcasting. You might have heard Virginia Thomas highlighting animals at the end of the episodes focused on Animals and Politics, such as:
In August, we also had a book giveaway of Yamini Narayanan's Book, "Mother Cow, Mother India" and Josh Milburn's "Food, Justice and Animals" that were won by Rebecca Shen and Katherine Schofield respectively.
September
In September I on-boarded The Animal Turn fellows and scheduled interviews for Season 6, Animals and Politics.
October
We released two bonus episodes. I spoke with Paul Watson about "interference" and its significance to his work. I also spoke with Hope Ferdowsian about resilience and "phoenix zones." We ran a book competition for Phoenix Zones which was won by Ece Nada.
Excitingly, we were shortlisted for two awards in the International Women's Podcasting Awards. My conversation with Jeff Sebo about bioethics was nominated for "Moment of Insight from a Role Model" and my conversation with Yamini Narayanan was nominated for "Changing the World One Moment at a Time". You can hear the nominated clips here. The nominees for the awards were outstanding and I have enjoyed listening to the work of other nominees. One of my personal favorites is The Salmon People Podcast - I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Season 6 launched with Will Kymlicka returning to the podcast to talk about Politics. This episode laid the foundation for the season noting how here are various ways in which animals and politics can be grappled with.
November
Season 6 is well underway! I talked to Angie Pepper about Cosmopolitanism, Steve Cooke about Moral Imagination and Habitat Rights, as well as Dinesh Wadiwel about Violence. These were all theoretically dense and inspiring conversations.
December
Two more episodes from Season 6 finished off the year. I talked to Gary Francione about Abolition and Corey Lee Wrenn about Feminism and Social Movement Mobilization.
Hello Year of the Wood Dragon (2024)
The Animal Turn gets a sister
We are excited to announce that in March 2024, The Animal Turn will be getting a sister - The Animal Highlight.
Listeners will know that at the end of Season 3 I started recording animal highlights, short clips that highlight specific animals. Sometimes in the rich theoretical and conceptual discussions with guests animals are obscured, these highlights try to mitigate that somewhat.
Since then, the highlights have evolved considerably. Hannah Hunter told us about animals through the lens of sound, including coyotes, butterflies, and ivory billed woodpeckers. Amanda Bunten-Wahlberg discussed animals like bears, pangolins, and jellyfish in relation to biosecurity. And, most recently, Virginia Thomas told us about the politics of dogs, bees, and maguey worms. In addition to the highlights on The Animal Turn, behind the scenes each of our fellows are working on their own highlights. These focus on matters from design to disaster, waste, and museums.
In other exciting news, Rebecca Shen has joined The Animal Turn as our Assistant Content Producer and Designer. Rebecca is a landscape designer and researcher and since joining the team in August 2023 Rebecca has improved the look and feel of the podcast. This includes helping to craft templates for Instagram, thinking about our brand coloring and even developing the art work for The Animal Highlight. We are thrilled to have you with us Rebecca!
As we enter our fourth year of production, The year of the "Wood Dragon", the podcast will continue to deepen and expand. I look forward to engaging with listeners, developing new partnerships, and - as always - having stimulating conversation with guests that contribute to thinking about animals more expansively and ethically.
Thank you for our support and Happy New Year!
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