Interest in the vegan studies field continues to grow as veganism has become increasingly visible via celebrity endorsements and universally acknowledged health benefits, and veganism and vegan characters are increasingly present in works of art and literature. Through a Vegan Studies Lens broadens the scope of vegan studies by engaging in the mainstream discourse found in a wide variety of contemporary works of literature, popular cultural representations, advertising, and news media. Veganism is a practice that allows for environmentally responsible consumer choices that are viewed, particularly in the West, as oppositional to an economy that is largely dependent upon big agriculture. This groundbreaking collection exposes this disruption, critiques it, and offers a new roadmap for navigating and reimaging popular culture representations on veganism. These essays engage a wide variety of political, historical, and cultural issues, including contemporary political and social circumstances, emergent veganism in Eastern Europe, climate change, and the Syrian refugee crisis, among other topics. Through a Vegan Studies Lens significantly furthers the conversation of what a vegan studies perspective can be and illustrates why it should be an integral part of cultural studies and critical theory. Vegan studies is inclusive, refusing to ignore the displacement, abuse, and mistreatment of nonhuman animals. It also looks to ignite conversations about cultural oppression.
Laura Wright is the author of three books and a professor of English at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where she specializes in postcolonial literatures and theory, ecocriticism, and animal studies.
Doing Vegan Studies: An Introduction vii Laura Wright Part I: Vegan Studies, Expanding Ecocriticism(s) 1 Chapter 1: Vegans in Locavore Literature 3 Kathryn Kirkpatrick Chapter 2: The New Environmental Literature: Perspectives of a Vegan Publisher 19 John Yunker Chapter 3: How We Feel about (Not) Eating Animals: Vegan Studies and Cognitive Ecocriticism 31 Alexa Weik von Mossner Part II: Vegan Studies in the United States 51 Chapter 4: The Sexual Politics of Meat in the Trump Era 53 Carol J. Adams Chapter 5: A Vegan Rhetorical Approach to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle 75 Ryan Phillips Chapter 6: Soylent Veganism: A Meditation on Cannibalism, Consumerism, and Veg Politics 93 Thomas J. Hertweck Chapter 7: Scarecrow Veganism: The Straw Man of Buddhist Vegan Identity in Richard Powers' The Echo Maker and Jonathan Franzen's Purity 111 Christopher Kocela Part III: Vegan Studies Beyond the West 133 Chapter 8: South Africa "My Culture in a Tupperware": Situational Ethics in Zoe Wicomb's October 135 Caitlin E. Stobie Chapter 9: Estonia The Rise of Veganism in Post-Socialist Europe: Making Sense of Emergent Vegan Practices and Identities in Estonia 151 Kadri Aavik Chapter 10: South Korea Looking at the Vegetarian Body: Narrative Points of View and Blind Spots in Han Kang's The Vegetarian 171 Margarita Carretero-Gonzalez Chapter 11: Nonviolence through Veganism: An Anti-Racist Postcolonial Strategy for Healing, Agency, and Respect 187 Shanti Chu Part IV: Hypocrites and Hipsters; Meat and Meatlessness 209 Chapter 12: H is for Hypocrite: Reading "New Nature Writing" Through the Lens of Vegan Theory 211 Alex Lockwood Chapter 13: The Best Little Slaughterhouse in Portland: Hipsters and the Rhetoric of Meat 229 D. Gilson Chapter 14: Meatless Mondays?: A Vegan Studies Approach to Resistance in the College Classroom 247 Natalie M. Dorfeld Conclusion 265 Laura Wright About the Editor and Contributors 279
"Through a Vegan Studies Lens is an invigorating collection for academics in the fields of vegan studies, as well as the intersecting fields of food, environmental, and animal studies." --Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment "I'm thrilled to see this book because it's a necessary text, not only for those in the fields of vegan, animal, and environmental studies but for all who care about animals and the planet. This book challenges conventional cultural norms and inspires us to change old ways of thinking and to do better." --Eco Lit Books
