Veganism and the Hierarchy of Race

Claire Huchant, University of Stirling

This paper considers the politics and discourse surrounding veganism through the lens of critical race theory, analysing the disparity between the value ascribed to Black human life and animal life by white activists and white-led organisations. By examining white vegan application of slavery narratives, this essay explores the means by which popular vegan rhetoric contributes to the dehumanisation of Black people, and the resultant positioning of Blackness as an inferior Other in relation to ubiquitous white identity (Fanon, 1963). 

By examining white vegan use of slavery images and comparisons, this research explores the ethical implications of appropriating Black pain in order to generate shock over practice in the farming and meat industries. Building upon the scholarship of hooks, Hill Collins, Harris-Perry, Davis, and Bilge, this study considers the extent to which vegan promotional material and dialogue propagates a hierarchy in which Black life is devalued and the manner in which that devaluation impacts upon wider society.