Our Philosophy of Animals class considered different ideas and theories about animals, most often in relation to animal cognition or captivity. There was a unit on intersectionality which was heavily influential in my project. We spoke about some thinkers to might consider white supremacy as embedded within the vegan movement. This was considered more thoroughly in Dr. Breeze Harper’s work. We discovered the intersection between race, gender, and non-human animals. We also explored Peter Singer and Donaldson and Kymlycka’s views. 

The target demographic for the modern-day vegan movement is middle to upper class skinny white women. Literature considering non-human animals is written by mostly white people. Through the lens of identity and nutrition, Dr. Breeze Harper’s Sistah Vegan is the first book written by and about black female vegans in North America. Most of the literature that we read in our Philosophy of Animals course was written by white authors, whereas this reading comes from another cultural context. Rather than critiquing what obligations humans may or may not have towards non-human animals, Sistah Vegan varies in its focus on veganism through decolonization and racism rather than through animal ethics. 

Communities of color and non-human animals share an experience of relating to themselves as primarily  bodily beings. Before relating to themselves individuals with personhood, they taught to relate to themselves as something to be looked at, judged, or consumed. Though many demographics can relate to this experience, my project explores this experience particularly in the context of non-human animals and communities of color. One example of a lack of cultural sensitivity in the vegan movement is the common comparison between the experience of non-human animals in factory farms and slavery, which Sue Donaldson & Will Kymlicka dive into. PETA has also been known to invoke this comparison with photographs of each side by side. 

Comparing photos of animals in factory farms next to a photo of people who were enslaved ignores the context of Black Americans often being compared to reptiles. Delicia Dunham describes this as, “Part of the fear that Black women have in caring about the plight of animals that causes them to distance themselves from non-human animals is that for so long, Black women have been likened to these beings and subjugated as such by speciesist racists” (Breeze 45). It’s true that there are similarities between how non-human animals are subjugated and slavery, highlighting similarities in experiencing yourself as a bodily being. While this might be an accurate example to parallel denying rights to non-human animals, employing this example is more harmful than useful as it requires ignoring the deep effect and emotions that communities feel towards historical circumstances. The history of these comparisons fosters negative emotions immediately, making many feel isolated from the vegan movement. 

My work with veganism will not be including striking photos side by side of factory farms and other genocides. Instead, drawing on Delicia Dunham’s work, it is highlighting the similarities in being a subject of hierarchy and power, operating under white patriarchy as a being who relates to themselves as primarily a bodily being. While my project includes veganizing recipes from communities of color in which I do not belong, I hope that my intersectional experience gives me insight in how to be more culturally sensitive. 

Environmental Aesthetics examined the collision of ethics, aesthetics and environmental activism, considering whether ethical justification for environmental protection could be rooted in aesthetics. The course considered what aesthetic activities are and why aesthetics matters, exploring the relationship between environmental ethics and environmental aesthetics. Some key elements of the class were prominent in the works of Thi Nguyen and Nick Riggle. We also referenced a paper from Matthew Strohl in our class. Though it was not a core element of our class, it succinctly ties our environmental aesthetics class with my community engagement project. The material in this course was directly correlated to my project in how I attempted to modify traditional dishes, creating the Vegan Palak Paneer and Vegan Khao Soi. This course significantly affected how I considered the vegan recipes which I posted on YouTube in terms of culinary authenticity, as well as how important it was to consider the kind of modifications which I made to a traditional recipe and whether it assimilated with the flavors of the rest of the dish.  

In Environmental Aesthetics, our class considered Thi Nguyen’s “The Aesthetics of Rock Climbing.”  Thi Nguyen compares rock climbing to a dance, explaining how it is an aesthetic activity. He writes, “When I think back to my favourite climbing experiences, what I can remember most precisely is the feel of the movement, the sense of gracefulness, of being able to move with precision and economy and elegance. That movement quality is something I savour, that I daydream about, that calls me back.” The movement is something I remember when I make a recipe. I don’t have clear measurements. I simply remember the feel of how much ginger separated from the rest of the root and the feel of pressing the amount of ginger with the pestle to make it tender. For my community engagement project, I did measure amount of ingredients I end up using when I cook which is almost always based on movement. I hope that if viewers of my cooking video make a recipe a few times, they can begin to understand the movement of creating the dish rather than the amounts, allowing for more of an aesthetic connection. 

Strohl’s broadening of the term culinary authenticity was important in my experimentation with traditional recipes as he views everything as authentic for what it is. This was practically applied in my experimentation with recipes to veganize them. At first, I considered using a different substance to mimic the paneer in my YouTube recipe, but I realized that the broadening of how Strohl applied the concept of authenticity was important in how the term authenticity was given less meaning by broadening what counts as authentic. Ultimately, through Strohl’s piece, I decided that it wasn’t so important to consider how close the mock “paneer” is to actual paneer. Rather, the term culinary authenticity may be rooted in a purity mindset and is not actually a reason for concern. This led me to not have significant concern for using tofu as paneer as long as the flavor of the recipe was retained. There is no golden standard for an authentic recipe, especially since no recipe is made the same twice. 

There is a lack of recognition of labor of women, animals, and people of color in that women’s labor, animal labor, and slave labor has been historically not considered seriously enough as capitalistic contributions. All have been subject to a hierarchical form of domination by white capitalistic colonial patriarchy.  

Environmental Philosophy emphasized how our concept of the environment varies depending on our experiences, especially in relation to intersectional approaches to the environment. Johnson & Bowker, Karren Warren, and Amy Irvine highlight intersectional approaches. We read Johnson and Bowker’s “African-American Wildland Memories” which details how collective memory has affected the wilderness. African Americans have a collective memory of working land and being harmed significantly on the landscape. Johnson and Bowker write, “The institutions of slavery, forest work camps, and sharecropping exploited black labor, and lynchings were essentially terrorist acts perpetuated against blacks in wildland areas” (Bowker & Johnson 60-61). The wilderness might be where some go to for therapeutic and healing experiences, but, for someone who is coming from the experience of being enslaved, wilderness might not be as uplifting for them than for others. Collective trauma has contributed to a different sense of the environment for certain demographics than the sense of the environment which is derived from a Eurocentric Christian male lens. 

Veganism has been described as a white issue. As though, the moral status of animals is only something that those who did not care about racial minorities could care about or entertain. Though, this is prioritizing human interests over others, it strikes me that this is to a degree exactly what Bowker & Johnson give insight on. That collective memory from working the land and being compared to non-human animals as a degradation tactic could taint relationships with the landscape and animals, but this is not the only option. Another reasonable option is that these collective memories could lead to more appreciation for the wilderness. In terms of looking at non-human animals as moral subjects, by being compared to non-human animals as a way of degradation, it could be that acknowledging non-human animals as moral subjects brings back negative associations and collective memory or trauma. It could also be the case that these experiences contribute to more understanding of what it’s like to be treated as a body or as the product of your labor rather than as an individual with personhood, allowing emphasis for considering the moral status of non-human animals. 

Animals’ bodies being used for consumption, the product of animals’ labor being used for other animal products, the product of slave labor for cotton, and the product of a woman’s birthing labor for more babies feeding into the capitalistic system all point to labor being undervalued.