Thirteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Black Americans and Americans of color are more likely to go vegan than Whites in the US. Still, veganism is generally associated with Whiteness and privilege, partly due to the overrepresentation of White people in vegan marketing and organizations. Black feminist activist scholar A. Breeze Harper wanted to change this misconception by reclaiming veganism and reconstructing it as a tool against systematic racism in nutrition, dietary policies and public health. In 2010, Harper published the anthology Sistah Vegan, which presented a series of personal narratives, essays and poems from the diverse community of North American Black female vegans. The contributions by more than thirty scholars, artists, activists and bloggers reflect on nutrition and health, ecological sustainability and animal rights, distribute justice, aspects of race and gender. By conducting a discourse analysis on the Sistah Vegan anthology, this paper investigates how Harper and the Sistah Vegan collective portray veganism as an instrument to decolonize one’s body and mind, and how their project defines and challenges dietary racism.