Towards a beyond-human geography: veganism and multispecies world

My doctoral thesis explored the the emergence and growth of beliefs, practices and organisation of animal activism and veganism in Britain. It is informed by interdisciplinary theory and practice across political philosophy, critical animal studies, and feminist and cultural geographies and argues for a ‘beyond-human geography’ centring ethico-political veganism.

Through archival research, interviews and multispecies ethnography, my thesis explores: friendship as both exclusionary power and a resistant way of life; how encounters with embodied vegan truths transform self, relationships and worlds; and how attempts to construct less violent multispecies space through ‘rescue’ might reimagine the futures we inherit. This work understands how animal activists and vegans navigate spatial, temporal and species differences and distances. To do this, it imagines and enacts ethically and politically imbued multispecies spaces of alterity to unthink ‘us’ and establish futures beyond trauma, by inhabiting the present in the mode of as if: as if some experiences were evocative of others; as if we already lived in ideal worlds.

I have published two papers from my doctoral work, with two further papers forthcoming. This research also forms the basis for my book, Veganism, Archives and Animals.

My PhD thesis looked at the emergence and growth of veganism in Britain since 1944, and how that movement operates today.