[ecrea] Call for Participation - 'Vegan Narratives and Storytelling: A Critical Assessment in the Spaces of ‘Post-Activism’'

Vegan Narratives and Storytelling: A Critical Assessment in the Spaces 
of ‘Post-Activism’
Call for participation in Workshop

University of Brighton, Friday 7th December, 10 to 5 PM,  Edward Street, 
room 105

Organised by the Climate Change Network (MeCCSA), Centre for Spatial, 
Environmental and Cultural Politics (University of Brighton), supported 
by the Global Development Research Division (University of Reading)

Organisers: Julie Doyle (Brighton), Nathan Farrell (Bournemouth), 
Michael Goodman (Reading)

Identified as one of the top Google trends of 2016, and with the first 
ever vegan week broadcast on The Great British Bake Off (UK, 2018), 
veganism as a diet and practice has increasingly become part of 
mainstream media culture, particularly social media, over the last few 
years (Doyle, 2016; Brown, 2018). This represents a significant and 
positive shift in media engagement with veganism, following years of 
negative representations of vegans as hostile and oversensitive (Cole & 
Morgan, 2011). In addition, the most recent IPCC report states that in 
order to limit global warming to 1.5C, changes to food systems ‘such as 
diet changes away from land-intensive animal products’ (IPCC Special 
Report 2018) will need to be undertaken, making the case for significant 
societal shifts towards plant-based diets more urgent and compelling. 
Science, in effect, is now pushing veganism and less meat eating as a 
mitigation strategy in the context of climate change. Historically, 
ethical veganism – that is, a commitment to animal welfare and 
anti-speciesism – has been the primary motivation for individuals to 
become vegan, above that of health and environmental concerns 
(Greenebaum, 2012; Larsson et al., 2003). Animal welfare concerns have 
also proved to facilitate a deeper and longer-term commitment to 
veganism as a critique of unethical food practices. Yet, in contemporary 
popular cultural and media engagements with veganism, health, scientific 
and environmental concerns about climate change appear to be 
foregrounded, providing a different set of narratives and stories about 
veganism that make it potentially more accessible to a wider demographic 
across multiple media platforms.
This interdisciplinary workshop will explore recent media and popular 
cultural engagements with veganism through a critical focus upon the 
role of narrative and storytelling in communicating veganism to 
mainstream audiences. Bringing together, and drawing upon, a range of 
perspectives from across academia, media industries, arts and activism, 
the workshop will identify current trends in vegan narratives – paying 
attention to how veganism is framed and for whom - and will also 
challenge these cultural narratives by exploring what/who they might 
exclude. We want to ask the following questions: how is an ethics of 
care - towards animals/climate /self/others - reframed in contemporary 
cultural narratives of veganism, and how might these contribute to, or 
even hinder, a broader societal shift towards plant-based diets and 
greater ecological politics? Are vegan narratives both ‘post-activism’ 
and ‘practical’ in efforts to shift public attitudes towards less meat 
eating and ultimately adopt vegan lifestyles and larger audiences? From 
these perspectives, the workshop will propose ways forward for popular 
cultural and media engagements with climate change that help mainstream 
veganism and plant-based diets as both an ethical and sustainable practice.

We have a number of Workshop places available. Depending on numbers, we 
can pay for some travel expenses. If you would like to attend and 
contribute to the discussions, please contact Julie Doyle 
(j.doyle /at/ brighton.ac.uk).
All food and refreshments provided during the day will be vegan.
References
                                                 Brown, J. (2018). 
‘Bake Off is having a vegan week, but what about the rest of TV?’, The 
Guardian, 24 Aug 2018, 
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/24/bake-off-vegan-week-rest-of-tv-cookery-shows. 
        Cole, M., & Morgan, K. (2011). ‘Vegaphobia: Derogatory 
discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national 
newspapers’. The British Journal of Sociology, 62(1), 134–153. 
                                                    Doyle (2016) 
Celebrity vegans and the lifestyling of ethical consumption, 
Environmental Communication, 10:6, 777-790

Greenebaum, J. B. (2012b). Veganism, identity and the quest for 
authenticity. Food, Culture & Society, 12(1), 129–144.

                               IPCC (2018). ‘IPCC Special Report on 
Global Warming of 1.5°C Frequently Asked Questions’ 
http://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_faq.pdf
                     Larsson, C. L., Rönnlund, U., Johansson, G., & 
Dahlgren, L. (2003). ‘Veganism as status passage: The process of 
becoming a vegan among youths in Sweden’. Appetite, 41, 61–67
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