Demonstrating Veganism

Abstract

This chapter looks at the way that vegan participants in this study have expressed their political and ethical beliefs by presenting biographical narratives of political expression. It begins by discussing experiences and perspectives on activism, in various forms, firstly through discussions of music, in particular punk. The chapter focuses on explicitly political narratives in the participants’ lives. I present a variety of different cases of vegan expressions of political engagement, activism and resistance, and demonstrate that, as well as their identity, the political expression of vegans is mediated by normalizing contexts. I examine stories of activism in various forms, such as street demonstrations, picketing and hunt sabotage. I discuss the importance of access to alternative narratives in allowing people to discover and engage with animal advocacy, achieving those ‘turning point’ moments, in particular through the concept of a ‘cultural menu’ (Smith and Sparkes 2011).