Politicizing Activist Discontent
This article explains the genesis and career within the French animal rights movement, of the controversial notion of “vegephobia,” which refers to the discrimination experienced by those who are vegetarian or vegan for reasons of animal protection. To understand the rationale of this formalization,...
Enregistré dans:
| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/bssg, |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
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Biens Symboliques / Symbolic Goods
2021
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | This article explains the genesis and career within the French animal rights movement, of the controversial notion of “vegephobia,” which refers to the discrimination experienced by those who are vegetarian or vegan for reasons of animal protection. To understand the rationale of this formalization, we focus first on the development from the 1970s, of the animal liberation and animal rights movements in Great Britain and the United States. The difficulties encountered by the French importers in introducing this social movement and reproducing the “double hit” achieved by English-speaking intellectuals of the cause who succeeded in legitimizing their beliefs both in the intellectual field and the activist space, led to adjustment attempts. Thus came about the invention of vegephobia, fuelled by the negative experiences of the first importers of the ideas of anti-speciesism and animal liberation to France. By politicizing activist discontent and translating resistance encountered into expressions of a widespread system of oppression, the aim is to partly redefine political representation to also include those claiming to represent animals. The study of the trajectory of this notion, together with comparative analysis of the developments of animal protection in France and in English-speaking countries, shows how the practices of both advocates and activists evolve and transform. |
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