Please introduce yourself and your connection to the Institute for Humane Education (IHE)
My name is Dana McPhall, and I am a graduate of IHE’s graduate programs (MEd, 2015), and now, a faculty member with IHE and Antioch University. I started teaching in 2019 and have been involved with IHE in various capacities since graduation, including serving as Chair of the Racial Justice Working Group, on the Advisory Council, and in the Alumni Association.
In your work, you help people see the connection between animal suffering—especially farmed animal suffering—and racial injustice. Can you tell us a bit about that connection?
Before I begin, I’d like to note that my work is U.S.-based, so my remarks have been shaped within a U.S. context. So, most people don’t think about the bodies they’re consuming every day. The bodies on our plates are there because we are socialized to adopt belief systems and participate in social norms that are rooted in oppressive ideologies and systems of domination, like anti-Blackness and racial hierarchy.
Let me explain. Through our history of colonialism, the notion of “human” has been constructed as a function of both race and species.
Thus, the constructs of race and the “animal” are given meaning through white supremacy, with both categories assigned the opposing status of subhuman/nonhuman. As a result, both racialized humans and animals can be subjected to unrelenting violence and premature death. In order to liberate farmed animals and other racialized bodies, the system of racial hierarchy must be challenged in its entirety. This is what my work is all about—to help people begin to make these connections, particularly in terms of the U.S. food system.
In order to liberate farmed animals and other racialized bodies, the system of racial hierarchy must be challenged in its entirety. This is what my work is all about—to help people begin to make these connections, particularly in terms of the U.S. food system.
Now, I realize that talking about eating farmed animals can be a sensitive topic for some people, even those who are otherwise committed to social justice. But I invite anyone—if you haven’t yet thought about what is happening to farmed animals—to release any potential defensiveness, fear, or judgment and be willing to consider their suffering. I went through this process in early adulthood, and I know it can be uncomfortable. But if you’re willing to do it, and you’re able to find a community to support you, it can open up so much for you in terms of what’s possible for people, animals, and the planet.
I believe that if we want to build a world where people don’t suffer—where there is justice, freedom, and collective thriving—such a liberatory vision simply isn’t achievable if animals continue to suffer in the ways they do today.
I do this work because I fundamentally believe in caring for one another, our fellow animals, and the planet that we all share. But more than that, I believe that if we want to build a world where people don’t suffer—where there is justice, freedom, and collective thriving—such a liberatory vision simply isn’t achievable if animals continue to suffer in the ways they do today. In my view, there’s no world where those two realities can co-exist. The liberation of people and animals is fundamentally interconnected.
And so I call on everyone who is committed to liberation to be open to thinking about what’s going on for farmed animals.
You’re raising awareness about these justice issues through several avenues. Can you tell us first about your teaching?
At IHE, I created and currently teach a graduate course called Race, Intersectionality, and Veganism, which focuses on issues related to veganism and racial justice. My prior work in both animal advocacy and civil rights is what brought me to IHE as a student. During my studies, I began thinking more about how issues of animal exploitation and racial justice overlap and how we could more explicitly integrate racial justice into the field of humane education, which ultimately led to the creation of the course.
The purpose of the course is to give educators and advocates an opportunity to think about systems of exploitation and subjugation based on race and species and other marginalized identities, and how they are interconnected.
Students explore issues of white supremacy, intersectionality, and justice within the specific context of veganism and the animal protection movement, and think about how the concepts and frameworks presented throughout the course can advance their own professional and personal endeavors. In teaching the course over the past six years, I’ve learned as much from the students as I hope they have learned from me. It has really deepened my own understanding of how all systems of oppression are interconnected and should be thought about and acted upon together.
In teaching the course over the past six years, I’ve learned as much from the students as I hope they have learned from me. It has really deepened my own understanding of how all systems of oppression are interconnected and should be thought about and acted upon together.
Beyond teaching your graduate course, are there other ways you are involved in educating and advocating for justice?
My faculty work has led me to start a project called Liberate in Mind. The purpose of my project is to foster educational initiatives and thought leadership to support justice movements in understanding the role of animal liberation in dismantling systems of racial hierarchy. As part of the initial work of the project, I’m creating a public course on race, animals, and collective liberation.
I’m planning to launch the course in the spring of 2027. The course will be open to the general public and will look at the question, “Why is challenging the exploitation of beyond human animals (a term I’ve borrowed from some animal advocates) central to the struggle for liberation?” As currently envisioned, the course will feature an in-depth exploration of the overlapping oppressions that arise from factory farming and the potential opportunities for cross-movement solidarity and coalition-building.
In addition, Liberate In Mind recently became a member of the Plant-Powered School Meals Coalition, which seeks to expand nutritious and delicious plant-based foods and beverages in U.S. K-12 schools. According to its website, the Coalition focuses on building a movement, changing policies, and cultivating leaders in service of its mission. I wanted my project to be a part of the Coalition because it brings together the voices of students, caregivers, and school staff who want to make healthy, plant-based food options available to children and families in their communities. In addition, the work of the Coalition is important to me personally because I’m a single parent whose household experiences food insecurity, and I understand the role of school breakfast and lunch programs in meeting the nutritional needs of so many BIPOC and low-income students. I believe that all students should be able to choose plant-based options to meet those needs.
Given all that is going on in our country right now, are there any other issues on which you are currently focused?
Both professionally and personally, I think about how to support those experiencing food insecurity, especially as recent policy changes at the federal level have further impacted food assistance programs. I have developed resources to share, particularly plant-based options for food assistance, and would like to host a conversation about food insecurity and its relationship to the animal agriculture industry and the for-profit food system. This conversation would highlight:
- the connections between hunger and the lack of affordable, accessible, healthy foods, including plant-based foods; and
- the history of land theft and labor exploitation, and the harm caused by factory farming and the government policies that prop up the for-profit food system.
I think that addressing food insecurity and creating community-led food systems that shift power and resources away from corporate control is a key aspect of food justice.
I think that addressing food insecurity and creating community-led food systems that shift power and resources away from corporate control is a key aspect of food justice. Throughout my life, particularly as a parent—even today—I have experienced food insecurity. I am among the many who did not get their SNAP benefits at the beginning of November 2025 as a result of changing government policies.
And since becoming a vegetarian many years ago, and later a vegan, I have realized how important it is to have a choice in what you consume and to be able to eat in a way that is consistent with your values. However, many vegan foods and fresh produce are expensive and not readily accessible. So if you are someone who wants to eat in ways that are culturally-affirming, sustainable, plant-based, and humane, you can come up against many structural barriers, and that’s frustrating.
So, I want to help give people the ability to make these types of choices without having what they’re able to eat dictated by large corporations, regardless of people’s income and no matter where they live.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your time in the Humane Education graduate program that might resonate with others?
Yes, the program not only deepened my learning about interconnected issues impacting people, animals, and the planet, but it also allowed me to integrate my prior commitment to racial justice into the field of humane education. The graduate program gives you the frameworks and tools for understanding how societal systems work, while providing you with the opportunity to build on that foundation and bring in your own ideas and perspectives on issues you care about. IHE also supports its alumni in a variety of ways, including helping me to advance my work. I think I’ve been able to expand the field of humane education through my teaching, which is an invaluable opportunity that IHE opened up for me, and I think for many other alumni as well.
Where can people keep up with you and learn more about your work?
I invite people to look me up on LinkedIn and check out the website for my project, Liberate in Mind. People can also follow my project work in the coming months on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.