Animals in Irish Society : Interspecies Oppression and Vegan Liberation in Britain's First Colony

__The first exploration of vegan Irish epistemology, one that can be traced along its history of animism, agrarianism, ascendency, adaptation, and activism.__ Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Preface 12 Acknowledgments 16 Timeline of Anti-speciesism Efforts in Ireland 18 Introduction 24 The Case for Irish Animal Studies 27 Food and Protest 28 Irish Animal Rights 30 Vegan Intersectionality as a Guiding Perspective 32 Critical Animal Studies 35 Methodology 38 Conclusion 40 Chapter 1 Celticism, Christianity, and Animism in Gaelic Ireland 42 Relationships with Free-Living Animals 46 Relationships with Domesticated Animals 49 Precolonial Food Systems 50 “Meat” 52 Dairy 53 Plants, Grains, and Forage 55 Food Magic 56 The Impact of Christianity on Irish Human-Nonhuman Relationships 56 Witches, Faeries, and Other Boundary-Crossers 62 Conclusion 65 Chapter 2 Human and Nonhuman Relationships under British Colonization 68 Changing Diets and Identity under Imperialism 69 Food for the Empire 69 Constructing Racial Difference 71 Foodways in Colonial Ireland 73 The Problematic Potato 76 Animality and the Legacy of Famine 79 Contested Humanity in Asylums 81 Animalizing the Irish 83 The Importation of New Speciesisms 88 Irish Breeding 88 British Exhibitions 91 Sport and Subjugation 95 Independence 97 Conclusion 100 Chapter 3 Activism for Other Animals in Ireland, Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 102 Irish Contributions to the Anti-cruelty Crusade 102 Irish Vegetarianism 109 Irish Vegetarians Organize 114 The Irish Response to Vivisection 117 Irish Barbarians in Nineteenth Century America 122 Conclusion 129 Chapter 4 Modern Activism for Other Animals in Ireland 132 Irish Veganism of the Mid-Twentieth Century 132 Animal Activism and Civil Rights 137 Conflicts with Travellers in Settled Ireland 139 Animal Nationalism 145 Human-Nonhuman Boundaries in Long Kesh 148 Anti-speciesist Activism in the Twenty-first Century 153 Anti-speciesism and the Irish State 159 Conclusion 162 Chapter 5 Nonhuman Animal Welfare and Irish Food Sovereignty 164 Feeding Independence 166 Ireland Enters the World System 172 Loving Ireland, Buying Local 175 Greenwashing Speciesism 179 Animal Agriculture and Sustainability Politics 179 Post-speciesism 186 Emerging Vegetarianism and Veganism in Modern Ireland 191 Conclusion 199 Conclusion Human-Nonhuman Relationships in the Global Era 204 Animality in Irish Society 204 Entangled Oppressions 207 Irish Vegan Ethics 211 Looking Forward 216 Ireland International 219 New Movements 223 Final Thoughts 225 Notes 228 Works Cited 232 Index 262 "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."-- Back cover