Animal Anxieties: A Postcolonial Analysis of Veganism in the Irish Discourse
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Veganism, the eschewing of Nonhuman Animal production and consumption, promises to deliver a significant disruption to the nation-state's heavy dependence on the systematic exploitation of other animals. For precarious newly developed nation-states, this disruptiveness takes on another level of sociological relevance. First, economic reliance on other animals is often presumed mandatory for global participation and legitimacy. Second, citizens of these new nations are frequently overcoming the legacy of colonialist racialization, which characteristically animalizes subjects to justify their subjugation. Animal nationalism is an emerging field which presses the discipline to negotiate the importance of animality in defining national and cultural identities. Using Ireland as a case study, this article advances animal nationalism theory by positing that it is more than humanity's relationship with actual nonhumans that is at play in nation-building, but also the metaphorical relationship between humans and other animals, given their utility in maintaining human stratification systems.
Source: Journal of Sociology
Author: Corey Lee Wrenn
Institution: University of Kent
Language: English
Topic: Animal Law and Welfare
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
OpenAlex ID: W7127316060