VOYAGE OF A VEGAN:
From Freud to Farm Animals...

An evening with international best-selling author Jeffrey Masson

	Wednesday 7 November 2007 at 7pm
	School of Veterinary Science, University of Qld, St Lucia, Building 82D Room 101
	Tickets $10* available at the door. Limited Seating

*Entry fee is to cover Jeffrey Masson’s travelling expenses. He has generously donated his time, with any excess funds going to support Animal Liberation Queensland.

American writer Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson now lives with his family in New Zealand. He has been a professor at several universities in Canada and America. He has a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Harvard University and was Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Toronto After serving as Projects Director of the Sigmund Freud Archives, he wrote a series of books critical of psychiatry and therapy. Sceptical that humans could be understood (at least by psychologists) Masson turned to something close to his heart - animals. In 1995 he published When Elephants Weep, an international best seller, followed by the equally popular Dogs Never Lie About Love.

Since those two books he has published six more about animals, looking at their emotions:

- About cats he wrote The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats (along with a fable, The Cat Who Came in from the Cold).
- He looked at fatherhood in the animal world and the lessons to be learned for humans in The Evolution of Fatherhood.
- Writing about the emotional world of farm animals in The Pig Who Sang to the Moon turned Jeff into a vegan.
- Lately he wondered why animals did not engage in genocide, and wrote Raising the Peaceable Kingdom.
- He then wrote an encyclopaedia of his 100 favourite animals (often with an animal-rights angle) called Altruistic Armadillos - Zenlike Zebras.
- He has just signed a contract to write a book about veganism called The Face on Your Plate.

What I believe
“ I believe that in 500 years (maybe less) people will look back on us and wonder about many things. No doubt behaviour we consider normal today will inspire horror in our more enlightened successors. War, for example. But I also think they may believe our disdain of insects is incomprehensible. Perhaps they will marvel that we could so easily cut down trees and perhaps even flowers.

I am completely opposed to any form of animal exploitation, including animal experimentation, keeping animals in zoos or in circuses, (indeed any form of captivity for animals), the use of leather, fur, wool and silk. I am even questioning my use of hearts of palm and maple syrup (thinking about the wounds necessary to create the sap). I also have begun to wonder whether any domesticated animal can lead an ideal life in the company of humans. Cats seem to me to come the closest, when they are able to wander freely and in safety”.

Jeffrey Masson 2007

“When animals are no longer colonized and appropriated by us, we can reach out to our evolutionary cousins. Perhaps then the ancient hope for a deeper emotional connection across the species barrier, for closeness and participation in a realm of feelings now beyond our imagination, will be realised."

Jeffrey Masson
From: When Elephants Weep

How to Get There
Drive down Sir Fred Schonell Drive. Go through first roundabout and turn right into Walcott Street where there is FREE PARKING. Walk up Glasshouse Road to footpath and directly ahead there is Building 83. Bamboo is on your right. When you get to the end of Keyhole Road walk down the steps into the Vet School under the archway. Go through glass doors on the right and Room 101 is there.
Disabled parking is available at the end of Keyhole Road and there is a wheelchair ramp from this park. Maps of the campus are available on www.uq.edu.au

For more information on Jeffrey Masson’s appearance in Brisbane contact Bev Parrish on 0419 672367 or Annette Guice on 0439 336575. Email enquiries: alibqld@powerup.com.au