The Discursive Construction of Veganism

The Discursive Construction of Veganismis a linguistic exploration of the stories we tell about veganism in popular media.Negative representations of veganism dominate, however, if veganism were represented in a more positive way, more people might be inclined to consider it in the interest of health: the health of our bodies, the health of our minds, the health of our communities and the health of our planet. This book examines ‘destructive stories’ and ‘beneficial stories’ in podcasts, online news organizations, documentary films, vegan cookbooks and social media accounts, looking at how these stories are linguistically constructed and the potential effect they may have on social cognition and real-world action. The author examines how widespread negative representations of veganism can be resisted with new stories that more accurately reflect real-world vegan practice. The book also includes a vegan value system supported by the academic and scientific communities, and a quick-reference toolkit of all the stories and their linguistic constructions and rhetorical devices. These can be used for those wishing to identify and resist destructive stories or to promote beneficial stories for vegan advocacy in the interest of ecology and the natural world.