Animals in Irish Society

Interspecies Oppression and Vegan Liberation in Britain's First Colony

By Corey Lee Wrenn

Subjects: Sociology, Ecofeminist, Animal Rights, Food, Feminist Philosophy
Hardcover : 9781438484358, 268 pages, July 2021
Paperback : 9781438484341, 268 pages, January 2022

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Table of contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Timeline of Anti-speciesism Efforts in Ireland

Introduction

1. Celticism, Christianity, and Animism in Gaelic Ireland

2. Human and Nonhuman Relationships under British Colonization

3. Activism for Other Animals in Ireland, Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

4. Modern Activism for Other Animals in Ireland

5. Nonhuman Animal Welfare and Irish Food Sovereignty

Conclusion: Human-Nonhuman Relationships in the Global Era

Notes
Works Cited
Index

The first exploration of vegan Irish epistemology, one that can be traced along its history of animism, agrarianism, ascendency, adaptation, and activism.

Description

Irish vegan studies are poised for increasing relevance as climate change threatens the legitimacy and longevity of animal agriculture and widespread health problems related to animal product consumption disrupt long held nutritional ideologies. Already a top producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, Ireland has committed to expanding animal agriculture despite impending crisis. The nexus of climate change, public health, and animal welfare present a challenge to the hegemony of the Irish state and neoliberal European governance. Efforts to resist animal rights and environmentalism highlight the struggle to sustain economic structures of inequality in a society caught between a colonialist past and a globalized future. Animals in Irish Society explores the vegan Irish epistemology, one that can be traced along its history of animism, agrarianism, ascendency, adaptation, and activism. From its zoomorphic pagan roots to its legacy of vegetarianism, Ireland has been more receptive to the interests of other animals than is currently acknowledged. More than a land of "meat" and potatoes, Ireland is a relevant, if overlooked, contributor to Western vegan thought.

Corey Lee Wrenn is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent. She is the author of several books, including A Rational Approach to Animal Rights: Extensions in Abolitionist Theory and Piecemeal Protest: Animal Rights in the Age of Nonprofits.

Reviews

"This is a very good read, one that will interest not only animal activists but also historians, sociologists, critical legal scholars, and others." — CHOICE