Paper/Proposal Title
Black Veganism, Decolonization, and the Quest for Integral Liberation
Location
M2320
Start Date
11-2-2023 5:00 PM
End Date
11-2-2023 6:15 PM
Keywords
Black veganism, liberation, decolonization
Abstract
Multiple national polls have shown that members of the Black community in the United States identify as vegetarian/vegan at a rate about 3 times as high as the overall population.[1] For many Black vegans these dietary choices are viewed as a powerful form of ‘decolonization’ of diet and as a crucial part of a broader quest for integral liberation. The adoption of a vegan lifestyle is viewed as a way of reconnecting with largely plant-based diets of West Africa, a way of rejecting the legacy of slavery, a way of connecting with the vegetarianism present in several Black religious traditions, a way of affirming ecological responsibility and interspecies solidarity, and a way of reclaiming health in a society that has systematically undermined Black physical and mental wellbeing. Amirah Mercer, for example, speaks of her adoption of a vegan diet as a reconnection with and reaffirmation of her Black identity. “Plant-based eating,” she says, “is probably one of the Blackest things I could do. As a Black woman in America, my veganism is, in fact, a homecoming.”[2]
In this paper I will examine Black veganism through the voices of Black vegans, highlighting the movement’s distinctive features as a decolonial and intersectional approach to food ethics. I will also highlight several ways that Catholic social teaching and its understanding of human rights and integral development could be enhanced through dialogue with the insights of the Black vegan tradition.
[1] BBC News, “Why Black Americans Are More Likely to Be Vegan” (September 11, 2020), www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53787329
[2] Amirah Mercer, “A Homecoming: How I Found Empowerment in the Black History of Plant-Based Diets”, www.eater.com/22229322/black-veganism-history-black-panthers-dick-gregory-nation-of-islam-alvenia-fulton
Author/Speaker Biographical Statement(s)
John Sniegocki is professor of religious ethics and director of the Peace and Justice Studies program at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the author of Catholic Social Teaching and Economic Globalization: The Quest for Alternatives (Marquette University Press), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters on Catholic social teaching, economic justice, food ethics, ecology, the Catholic Worker movement, and Buddhist-Christian dialogue.
Black Veganism, Decolonization, and the Quest for Integral Liberation
M2320
Multiple national polls have shown that members of the Black community in the United States identify as vegetarian/vegan at a rate about 3 times as high as the overall population.[1] For many Black vegans these dietary choices are viewed as a powerful form of ‘decolonization’ of diet and as a crucial part of a broader quest for integral liberation. The adoption of a vegan lifestyle is viewed as a way of reconnecting with largely plant-based diets of West Africa, a way of rejecting the legacy of slavery, a way of connecting with the vegetarianism present in several Black religious traditions, a way of affirming ecological responsibility and interspecies solidarity, and a way of reclaiming health in a society that has systematically undermined Black physical and mental wellbeing. Amirah Mercer, for example, speaks of her adoption of a vegan diet as a reconnection with and reaffirmation of her Black identity. “Plant-based eating,” she says, “is probably one of the Blackest things I could do. As a Black woman in America, my veganism is, in fact, a homecoming.”[2]
In this paper I will examine Black veganism through the voices of Black vegans, highlighting the movement’s distinctive features as a decolonial and intersectional approach to food ethics. I will also highlight several ways that Catholic social teaching and its understanding of human rights and integral development could be enhanced through dialogue with the insights of the Black vegan tradition.
[1] BBC News, “Why Black Americans Are More Likely to Be Vegan” (September 11, 2020), www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53787329
[2] Amirah Mercer, “A Homecoming: How I Found Empowerment in the Black History of Plant-Based Diets”, www.eater.com/22229322/black-veganism-history-black-panthers-dick-gregory-nation-of-islam-alvenia-fulton
