An Overview of Veganism on X: Is Veganism a Political Activism or a Dietary Style in the Turkish Case?

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 28, 109 – 116, 30.06.2024

A. Fulya Şen

https://doi.org/10.31455/asya.1405715

Öz

Veganism is commonly described as the attempt to avoid, as far as possible, the exploitation and consumption of animals and animal products. It is acknowledged as a collective action aimed at political transformation, not an individual quest for a pure ethical diet. Many times, veganism is misinterpreted as a diet or style of eating. It’s a movement against the needless suffering and exploitation of non-human animals. As a result, veganism rejects human consumption habits that harm animals, such as those found in our clothes, food, makeup, and entertainment (Cochrane and Cojocaru, 2023a, 2023b; Linton, 2022). Hence, this study aims to explore how veganism was framed on X (formerly Twitter) and associated with political activism. It claims that veganism is beyond a personal lifestyle, a form of activism providing insight into political change. This paper, which examined the posts of the Vegan Association of Turkey and also 4 news websites, Hurriyet, Haberturk, BirGün, and Bianet, has revealed that the Vegan Association of Turkey dealt with mostly vegan activism patterns but did not refer to the elements of political activism. It also displayed that although the left-wing and alternative news media covered the activist practices of veganism, the sampling news websites mostly framed veganism within nutrition and lifestyle patterns. In particular, the mainstream news media excluded the political and activist roles of veganism from vegan representations. In conclusion, under-representing political constituents of veganism on X means that the hegemonic consumerism culture is reproduced and new perspectives on consumerism, capitalism, gender, and the environment have not been sufficiently debated in the public sphere.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Vegan, Veganism, Vegan Activism, Political Activism, Vegan Nutrition

Kaynakça

• Alam, A. (July 19, 2020). Representation of Vegans in Movies and TV Shows. Retrieved from: https://theveganreview.com/representation-of-vegans-in-movies-and-tv-shows/
• Cherry, E. (2021). Vegan Studies in Sociology. L. Wright (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003020875
• Cochrane, A. & Cojocaru, M. D. (2023a). Veganism: Why We Should See it as A Political Movement Rather than A Dietary Choice. Retrieved from: https://theconversation.com/veganism-why-we-should-see-it-as-a-political-movement-rather-than-a-dietary-choice-197318#:~:text=Veganism%20is%20devoted%20to%20tackling,the%20products%20of%20animal%20exploitation.
• Cochrane, A. & Cojocaru, M. D. (2023b). Veganism as Political Solidarity: Beyond ‘Ethical Veganism’. Journal of Social Philosophy, 54, 59–76.
• Cole, M. & Stewart, K. (2021). (Mis)Representing Veganism in Film and Television. L. Wright (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies (1st ed.). Routledge.
• Dickstein, J. J., Dutkiewicz, Guha-Majumdar, J. & Winter, D. R. (2022). Veganism as Left Praxis. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 33(3), 56-75.
• Doggett, T. (2023). Moral Vegetarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/vegetarianism/>.
• Erben, Ş. E. & Balaban-Salı, J. (2016). Social Media Use of Vegan Activists in Turkey. Global Media Journal TR Edition, 6(12), 75-88.
• Giraud, E. H. (2021). Veganism: Politics, Practice, and Theory. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Hamilton, C. L. (2019). Veganism, Sex and Politics: Tales of Danger and Pleasure. Intellect.
• Jallinoja, P., Vinnari, M. & Niva, M. (2018). Veganism and Plant-Based Eating: Analysis of Interplay Between Discursive Strategies and Lifestyle Political Consumerism. In Magnus Boström, Michele Micheletti, and Peter Oosterveer (Eds). The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism, Oxford Handbooks (online ed, Oxford Academic, 08 August 2018).
• Jones, L. (2020, January 2). Veganism: Why are Vegan Diets on the Rise? Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44488051
• Kalte, D. (2021). Political Veganism: An Empirical Analysis of Vegans’ Motives, Aims, and Political Engagement. Political Studies, 69(4), 814-833.
• Kley, S., Kleinen-von Königslöw, K. & Dunker, A. (2022). Media Diets of Vegetarians. How News Consumption, Social Media Use and Communicating with One’s Social Environment are Associated with a Vegetarian Diet, Environmental Communication.
• Linton, K. (2022, August 6). Veganism: Political Not Philosophical. Retrieved from: https://www.kevinlinton.co/blog/veganism-political-not-philosophical
• Lockwood, A. (2021). Vegan Studies and Gender Studies. L. Wright (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies (1st ed.). Routledge.
• Lundahl, O. (2020). Dynamics of Positive Deviance in Destigmatisation: Celebrities and the Media in the Rise of Veganism, Consumption Markets & Culture, 23(3), 241-271.
• Mancilla, A. (2016). Veganism. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht.
• Martinelli, D. & Berkmanienė, A. (2018). The Politics and the Demographics of Veganism: Notes for a Critical Analysis. Int J Semiot Law, 31, 501–530.
• Menzies, R. E., Matthew, B. & Ilan Dar-Nimrod, R. (2023). The Vegan Dilemma: Do Peaceful Protests Worsen Attitudes to Veganism? Appetite, 186.
• NHS (2022, May 31). The Vegan Diet.
• Pacaol, N. F. (2023). Veganism and Public Health: A Brief Manifesto. Journal of Public Health, 45(2).
• Preston, P. (2024). Journalism Studies and “Cascading Crises”: Towards a Political Economic Approach. Henry Silke, Fergal Quinn and Maria Rieder (Eds.). How to Read Economic News: A Critical Approach to Economic Journalism. Oxon: Routledge.
• Ryfe, D. (2017). Journalism and the Public. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Sharma, M. (2021, August 17). How has social media influenced veganism? The Vegan Review, https://theveganreview.com/social-media-influence-on-veganism-instagram-vegan-celebrity-influencers/
• The Vegan Association of Turkey (TVD). Who are we? Retrieved from:https://tvd.org.tr/biz-kimiz/
• Tunç, A. (2023). Vegan Identities and the Vegan Movement in Turkey. Master of Science in Sociology, the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University, Ankara.
• Vegan Statistics (2021, December 15). Vegan Statıstıcs – What is the Status? Retrieved from: https://www.redefinemeat.com/blog/vegan-statistics/
• Vegan.org (n.d.). About-Veganism. Retrieved from: https://vegan.org/about-veganism/ Weisskircher, M. (2016, November 1). The rise of veganism in politics. Retrieved from: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/rise-of-veganism-in-politics/
• Wescombe, N. J. (2019). Communicating Veganism: Evolving Theoretical Challenges to Mainstreaming Ideas. Studies in Media and Communication, 7(2).

X’te Veganizme Genel Bir Bakış: Türkiye Örneğinde Veganlık Siyasi Bir Aktivizm mi, Yoksa Bir Beslenme Tarzı mı?

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 28, 109 – 116, 30.06.2024

A. Fulya Şen

https://doi.org/10.31455/asya.1405715

Öz

Veganlık genellikle hayvanların ve hayvansal ürünlerin sömürülmesi ve tüketiminden mümkün olduğunca kaçınma girişimi olarak tanımlanmakta, salt bir etik beslenmeye yönelik bireysel bir arayış değil, siyasi dönüşümü amaçlayan kolektif bir eylem olarak kabul edilmektedir. Çoğu zaman veganlık bir diyet ve beslenme tarzı olarak yanlış yorumlanmaktadır. Aslında bu, hayvanların gereksiz yere acı çekmesine ve sömürülmesine karşı bir harekettir. Sonuç olarak veganlık, kıyafetlerimizde, yiyeceklerimizde, makyajımızda ve eğlencemizde bulunan hayvanlara zarar veren insan tüketim alışkanlıklarını reddetmektedir (Cochrane ve Cojocaru, 2023a, 2023b; Linton, 2022). Dolayısıyla bu çalışma, veganlığın X’te (eski adıyla Twitter) nasıl çerçevelendiğini ve siyasi aktivizmle nasıl ilişkilendirildiğini araştırmayı amaçlamakta, kişisel bir yaşam tarzının ötesinde, siyasi değişime ışık tutan bir aktivizm biçimi olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Türkiye Vegan Derneği ile haber sitesi olarak Hürriyet, Habertürk, BirGün ve Bianet’in gönderilerini inceleyen bu makale, Türkiye Vegan Derneği’nin çoğunlukla vegan aktivizm örüntülerini ele aldığını, ancak siyasi aktivizmin unsurlarına değinmediğini, sol ve alternatif haber medyasının veganlığın aktivist pratiklerine yer vermekle birlikte, örnek olarak incelenen haber sitelerinin veganizmi beslenme ve yaşam tarzı kalıpları kapsamında çerçevelediğini, özellikle ana akım haber medyasının veganlığın siyasi ve aktivist rollerini vegan temsillerinin dışında tuttuğunu ortaya koymuştur. Sonuç olarak, veganlığın siyasi bileşenlerinin X’te yeterince temsil edilmemesi, hegemonik tüketim kültürünün yeniden üretildiği ve tüketim, kapitalizm, cinsiyet ve çevreye ilişkin yeni bakış açılarının kamusal alanda yeterince tartışılmadığı anlamına gelmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Vegan, Veganizm, Vegan Aktivizm, Politik Aktivizm, Vegan Beslenme

Kaynakça

• Alam, A. (July 19, 2020). Representation of Vegans in Movies and TV Shows. Retrieved from: https://theveganreview.com/representation-of-vegans-in-movies-and-tv-shows/
• Cherry, E. (2021). Vegan Studies in Sociology. L. Wright (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003020875
• Cochrane, A. & Cojocaru, M. D. (2023a). Veganism: Why We Should See it as A Political Movement Rather than A Dietary Choice. Retrieved from: https://theconversation.com/veganism-why-we-should-see-it-as-a-political-movement-rather-than-a-dietary-choice-197318#:~:text=Veganism%20is%20devoted%20to%20tackling,the%20products%20of%20animal%20exploitation.
• Cochrane, A. & Cojocaru, M. D. (2023b). Veganism as Political Solidarity: Beyond ‘Ethical Veganism’. Journal of Social Philosophy, 54, 59–76.
• Cole, M. & Stewart, K. (2021). (Mis)Representing Veganism in Film and Television. L. Wright (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies (1st ed.). Routledge.
• Dickstein, J. J., Dutkiewicz, Guha-Majumdar, J. & Winter, D. R. (2022). Veganism as Left Praxis. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 33(3), 56-75.
• Doggett, T. (2023). Moral Vegetarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/vegetarianism/>.
• Erben, Ş. E. & Balaban-Salı, J. (2016). Social Media Use of Vegan Activists in Turkey. Global Media Journal TR Edition, 6(12), 75-88.
• Giraud, E. H. (2021). Veganism: Politics, Practice, and Theory. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Hamilton, C. L. (2019). Veganism, Sex and Politics: Tales of Danger and Pleasure. Intellect.
• Jallinoja, P., Vinnari, M. & Niva, M. (2018). Veganism and Plant-Based Eating: Analysis of Interplay Between Discursive Strategies and Lifestyle Political Consumerism. In Magnus Boström, Michele Micheletti, and Peter Oosterveer (Eds). The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism, Oxford Handbooks (online ed, Oxford Academic, 08 August 2018).
• Jones, L. (2020, January 2). Veganism: Why are Vegan Diets on the Rise? Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44488051
• Kalte, D. (2021). Political Veganism: An Empirical Analysis of Vegans’ Motives, Aims, and Political Engagement. Political Studies, 69(4), 814-833.
• Kley, S., Kleinen-von Königslöw, K. & Dunker, A. (2022). Media Diets of Vegetarians. How News Consumption, Social Media Use and Communicating with One’s Social Environment are Associated with a Vegetarian Diet, Environmental Communication.
• Linton, K. (2022, August 6). Veganism: Political Not Philosophical. Retrieved from: https://www.kevinlinton.co/blog/veganism-political-not-philosophical
• Lockwood, A. (2021). Vegan Studies and Gender Studies. L. Wright (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies (1st ed.). Routledge.
• Lundahl, O. (2020). Dynamics of Positive Deviance in Destigmatisation: Celebrities and the Media in the Rise of Veganism, Consumption Markets & Culture, 23(3), 241-271.
• Mancilla, A. (2016). Veganism. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht.
• Martinelli, D. & Berkmanienė, A. (2018). The Politics and the Demographics of Veganism: Notes for a Critical Analysis. Int J Semiot Law, 31, 501–530.
• Menzies, R. E., Matthew, B. & Ilan Dar-Nimrod, R. (2023). The Vegan Dilemma: Do Peaceful Protests Worsen Attitudes to Veganism? Appetite, 186.
• NHS (2022, May 31). The Vegan Diet.
• Pacaol, N. F. (2023). Veganism and Public Health: A Brief Manifesto. Journal of Public Health, 45(2).
• Preston, P. (2024). Journalism Studies and “Cascading Crises”: Towards a Political Economic Approach. Henry Silke, Fergal Quinn and Maria Rieder (Eds.). How to Read Economic News: A Critical Approach to Economic Journalism. Oxon: Routledge.
• Ryfe, D. (2017). Journalism and the Public. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Sharma, M. (2021, August 17). How has social media influenced veganism? The Vegan Review, https://theveganreview.com/social-media-influence-on-veganism-instagram-vegan-celebrity-influencers/
• The Vegan Association of Turkey (TVD). Who are we? Retrieved from:https://tvd.org.tr/biz-kimiz/
• Tunç, A. (2023). Vegan Identities and the Vegan Movement in Turkey. Master of Science in Sociology, the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University, Ankara.
• Vegan Statistics (2021, December 15). Vegan Statıstıcs – What is the Status? Retrieved from: https://www.redefinemeat.com/blog/vegan-statistics/
• Vegan.org (n.d.). About-Veganism. Retrieved from: https://vegan.org/about-veganism/ Weisskircher, M. (2016, November 1). The rise of veganism in politics. Retrieved from: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/rise-of-veganism-in-politics/
• Wescombe, N. J. (2019). Communicating Veganism: Evolving Theoretical Challenges to Mainstreaming Ideas. Studies in Media and Communication, 7(2).

Toplam 30 adet kaynakça vardır.

Ayrıntılar

Kaynak Göster

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