Discursive Justifications of Dog’s Vegetarian Diet. An Intro to Multispecies Lifestyle Politics

Abstract

Social sciences have shed light on various aspects of vegetarianism and veganism but overlooked the feeding of non-human animals. I use discourse analysis and interview data to investigate how vegan dog guardians challenge carnism and justify their vegetarian feeding practices discursively. The feeding practices and discourses are understood as multispecies lifestyle politics of veganism. The analysis answers the following research questions: what kind of discourses make dogs vegetarian and how are the nature and naturalness of the dog defined in these discourses? The three identified discourses construct dogs as thoroughly social beings in human responsibility, making dog food an area of human choice, where ethical and new microscopical nutritional thinking should replace naturalizing carnist discourses. In the vegan lifestyle movement, dog is a silent but species-typically treated member who has no choice but to participate, because dogs are always part of their guardians’ lifestyles, whether or not the guardian is aware of the political dimensions of dog-related consumption. The study introduces the concept of multispecies lifestyle politics and reveals how dog and dog food consumption are worked discursively when incorporated into a politicized lifestyle.