Animal Bodies, Colonial Subjects: (Re)Locating Animality in Decolonial Thought

From back cover:

“I suggest that the recognition of animals as colonial subjects has been absent from Indigenous Studies. That is, contemporary decolonial thought has yet to engage with a politics of animality that not only recalls “traditional” and/or “ceremonial” human-animal relations, but is also accountable to animal subjectivities and futurities outside settler colonialism and within a project of decolonization. That is, decolonial thought cannot, for example, demand the repatriation of land as an ecofeminist praxis while simultaneously advocating for hunting as a recreational activity precisely because hunting has been weaponized as speciesism to normalize the killability of animals for human ends. Here, I propose a re-centering of animality through Indigenous cosmologies and epistemologies (specifically Mi’kmaq and Cree) to propose a decolonial animal ethic. […]

Several of the recommendations proposed by the animal liberation movement are thus applicable to decolonization. For example, rejecting animal experimentation, disrupting the commodification of animal bodies, and abolishing animal agriculture are gestures that can be deployed as anti-colonial gestures that reify decolonial futurities insofar as these forms of knowledge production, capitalism, and food culture sustain the settler state.[…]

…settler colonialism wants to produce animal bodies as commodities embedded in a global economy of reiterated deathliness. Said different, animal bodies that are inserted into capitalist spaces of commodity production are always already scheduled for death to be consumed as meat, clothing, scientific data, and so forth.[…]

Similar to the ways in which Indigenous peoples can undergo a violent process through which we rid our colonial mentalities, I argue that animals can be liberated from their colonized subjecthood through an aided “process of desubjectification”. That is, thinking through animality as an infrastructure of decolonization re-positions animal bodies as agents of anti-colonial resurgence.They can consequently engender “forms of energy that are capable of engaging the forces that keep [Indigenous people and animals] tied to [a] colonial mentality and reality”. Settler colonialism has therefore required the normalization of speciesism within Indigenous communities to obfuscate the radicality of Indigenous-animal relations. In that sense, recalling the representation of animals in Indigenous cosmologies/oral traditions and unsettling speciesism as a “colonial mentality” must be prioritized in decolonial thought.[…]

Animal Bodies, Colonial Subjects_(Re)Locating Animality in Decolonial Thought pdf

Veganism and Mi’kmaw Legends

From back cover:

“This text proposes a postcolonial ecofeminist reading of Mi’kmaw legends as the basis for a vegan diet rooted in Indigenous culture. I refer primarily to veganism throughout this work because unlike vegetarianism, it is not only a diet but a lifestyle that, for ethical reasons, eschews the use of animal products. Constructing an Indigenous veganism faces two significant barriers—the first being the association of veganism with whiteness…

…A second barrier to Indigenous veganism is the portrayal of veganism as a product of class privilege. Opponents claim that a vegan diet is an indulgence since the poor (among whom Indigenous people are disproportionately represented) must eat whatever is available, and cannot afford to be so picky. This argument assumes that highly processed specialty products make up the bulk of a vegan diet. Such an argument also overlooks the economic and environmental cost of meat, and assumes that the subsidized meat and dairy industries in North America are representative of the world.”

Veganism and Mi’kmaw Legends pdf

Veganism as Anti-Colonial Praxis: A Collection of Indigenous Vegan Perspectives

From back cover:

“Despite the absorption of veganism by the capitalist market – a process that admittingly reinforces pre-existing divisions across class and racial lines – a vegan lifestyle taken to its logical conclusion is fundamentally anti-capitalist and anti-colonial. By (re)acknowledging sentience and personalities within the bodies of colonized (animal) subjects, a vegan lifestyle rejects authoritarian relationships based on disrespect for the bodily autonomy of those whose lives have been re-purposed for human supremacist consumption.

This small collection of shared experiences, while reflective of a larger anti-colonial struggle, highlights the inclusion of an anti-speciesist, animal liberation.”

Veganism as Anti-Colonial Praxis_A Collection of Indigenous Vegan Perspectives pdf

Kaimangatanga: Māori Perspectives on Veganism and Plant-based Kai

From back cover:

““To adopt a form of veganism – a plant-based lifestyle and ethics – that acknowledges, is based upon, and celebrates Te Ao Māori, is a break from the dominant and from the status quo and but also an act of decolonialism. It is a way to reclaim sovereignty and exercise individual choice.

And finally, it is a means by which collective power and community may be built; this is evident in the existence of online forums and comment threads on Māori-based vegan and plant- based social media accounts.

Discussions regarding the intersections of vegan ethics, Indigeneity and Māoritanga and ideas about plant-based kai, and kaimangatanga are already occurring within Māori families and communities and the outcomes and possiblities that arise from this kōrero are potent and unique. There are karakia or prayers that refer to the sustenance provided by plant-based kai, and waiata (songs) which are based upon the care and protection of animal species and the environment. There are also resources and recipes for ‘veganizing’ traditional foods such as hangi (food cooked in the earth), and boil-up (a popular meat-based dish which usually includes plants such as pūha [sowthistle], potatoes, and watercress).”

Kaimangatanga_ Maori Perspectives on Veganism and Plant-based Kai pdf

Anti-Speciesism & Dietary Decolonization: A Short Introduction to Veganism

This zine breaks down the Standard American Diet, tracing it back to its colonial roots and advocates veganism as a form of anti-colonial resistance.

Anti-Speciesism Dietary Decolonization Intro to Veganism pdf

Colonialism, Imperialism & Animal Liberation

Text from the zine:

“Veganism, as an ethical choice, is thus a consistent complement to activism in the quest to end human domination over and exploitation of non-human animals. It transcends cultures, in the same way that other forms of oppression should be resisted no matter where they persist. All cultures are living and constantly evolving, and can from within their own cultural understanding find the tools and means through which speciesism, racism, sexism, capitalism or any other form of domination can be opposed. Everyone who opposes domination should find it within their interest to engage in or at least support the anti-speciesist struggle, for what more severe form of domination could we imagine than the notion that it is acceptable to harm and kill sentient beings because one likes their taste?”

Colonialism Imperialism and Animal Liberation pdf

Decolonizing the Diet: Towards an Indigenous Veganism

This zine contains a collection of essays and recipes focused on veganism as an indigenous form of anti-colonial resistance.

Decolonizing The Diet Towards an Indigenous Veganism pdf

My Vegan Straight Edge is Anything but White: An Indigenous Anarchist Critique of Speciesism and Intoxication Culture

Text from back cover:

“Aight, so I hear this and see this shit a lot. That vegans are  inherently white, that veganism is about consumerism, and it also makes the (racist) assumption that ALL POC have the same, monolithic culture around consuming and exploiting animals. The great hunter gatherer ideas are colonially based usually around the time where romanticism of indigenous ppl was the hip thing. Part of decolonization and rebalancing of our relation to the animal nations will need to involve us adjusting as we are at an ecological breaking point…”

“We can choose, and some of us do, to negate the existence of intoxicants for political and decolonial reasons. By refusing to play into not only what pacifies but what comes up and promotes systems that are inherently based in imperialism and capitalism as well as used to bolster kyriarchy all around, one feels all the agony they should: for themselves to do what they chose or must for existence without being lulled into any false pleasure of this civilization, for other beings and the planet being destroyed near and far from them, and for the future as this continues. You cannot destroy your masters without going all the way.”

My Vegan Edge is Anything but White pdf

Native Americans and Vegetarianism

Text from back cover:

“How well we know the stereotype of the rugged Plains Indian: killer of buffalo, dressed in quill­decorated buckskin, elaborately feathered eaddress, and leather moccasins, living in an animal skin teepee, master of the dog and horse, and stranger to vegetables. But this lifestyle, once limited almost exclusively to the Apaches, flourished no more than a couple hundred years. It is not representative of most Native Americans of today or yesterday. Indeed, the “buffalo­ as­lifestyle” phenomenon is a direct result of European influence…”

Native Americans and Vegetarianism pdf

We Refuse To Be Invisible: Black and Brown Vegan Power

Text from the zine:

“The purpose of this pamphlet is to create a platform for black and brown radical vegans to illustrate their experiences which not only negate settler-colonial white supremacy, but also institutional and cultural speciesism. While this pamphlet can not include the words of every black and brown vegan anarchist/anti-authoritarian, it is considered a good starting point in creating much needed dialog on speciesism, white supremacy and anarchy/anti authoritarianism. Unfortunately, veganism is still predominately associated with the Westernized stereotype of a white, classist privileged diet – marginalizing low-income radical vegans of color.”

Black and Brown Vegan Power pdf