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I guess Black male vegans just don't exist….

Extended deadline for Abstracts is November 15, 2013. Final completed piece deadline: March 15, 2014.

You can email me your abstracts (approximately 2 paragraphs) at the email address sistahvegan(at)gmail (dot). Com


Click on the above video to hear about Brotha Vegan , the sibling to Sistah Vegan book. (TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO FOLLOWS AFTER THE DETAILS BELOW)

This anthology isn’t only about veganism. It’s actually critical perspectives and arts coming from a black male vegan consciousness; black men/men of African descent living in North America. You can talk about veganism, but you can also talk about other topics that intersect with your vegan consciousness. What are the ways in which black vegan males think about:

  1. Hip hop culture and vegan activism

  2. Environmental and nutritional racism

  3. Meat eating as a “masculine” stereotype

  4. Class and food access

  5. Structural racism’s effects on food acces

  6. “Obesity” and diabetes in the African American community

  7. Access to clean water as a race, class, and gender issue.

  8. PETA

  9. Going Green; green jobs; green economy

  10. Fatherhood

  11. Teenhood

  12. Ageism

  13. Sexism

  14. Food sovereignty

  15. Occupy movement

  16. Experiencing life as a black male who is queer and vegan

  17. Disabilities studies and race

  18. Prison industrial complex

  19. Afrocentricism

  20. Spirituality and consumption

  21. Critical analysis of Afrocentric and Afrikan Holistic Health movement

  22. Decolonizing the body

  23. Animal liberation

  24. Raising vegan children

This volume will be loving and open-minded. I am not going to accept media that is sexist, homophobic, or anti-trans. This volume should be a safe artistic space for all black men, but in particular, marginalized black males such as sexuality minorities (black males who are gay, for example) and black men living with disabilities.

TRANSCRIPT (transcribed by Sara Garcia): 

(Breeze Harper sitting outside, looks at the camera and speaks):

Hey this is Breeze Harper of the Sistah Vegan Project and I need brotha vegans to contribute to the Sistah Vegan sibling anthology called Brotha Vegan. Okay?

So, I have extended this deadline, this is the third time now, because I have received no abstracts from any of you all. There are like millions of men of African descent on this planet, and I’m sure there are a substantial amount of y’all who practice veganism and have something to say. So I just need 20. 20 contributions, okay?

And if you’re not a writer that is okay because there are many different ways that you can let folk know what veganism has done for you, and or looking at life through the lens of veganism. So, you don’t even have to necessarily talk about veganism, but I am just looking specifically at what does the world look like through your black male vegan consciousness? This is what I’m looking for, okay? So, you can talk about hip hop culture and vegan activism. You can talk about issues like animal rights. PETA is a big one. You know, a lot of people agree with them, a lot of people disagree with them. A lot of them think that they do great work. Other people feel that they have problems with them.

You could talk about maybe the Occupy Movement, or politics. Obama. You could talk about disability issues and the ableism that is rampant in a lot of the mainstream rhetoric about veganism.

What’s your take on obesity and food? Is there a link or not?

You know, class and food access.

Issues like decolonizing the body. Is the food that the standard american…the food that they are eating, is it really a type of Anglo-centric, colonialistic, imperialistic way of forcing people to eat?

Raising vegan children. You know, so much, so much that you could talk about. Alternative forms of black masculinity such as not eating meat. What does that mean? There’s just so much that you could do. You could talk about it, write about it. [And] if you’re not into writing really long essays, [you can write] poetry. If you’re just not into writing but you love drawing or painting, do something with that beautiful talent of yours. Draw what’s on your mind. Paint what’s on your mind. And also, I’m hoping that this is even possible because of the Age of the Internet, that you could maybe even sing or perform a video that links people who are reading that book to that mp3, or to that video of what you have got to say if you’re a documentarian. Or, you could have a 3 to 5 minute video that you would want to contribute, or a song. That is what I want from you guys. So, [by] November 15th [2012], just send me [an abstract of] one or two paragraphs at sistahvegan at gmail dot com, Okay?

And then I’ll get back to people by December 15th, with what pieces I choose, and then I’ll ask that those pieces be completed by March 15th of 2013. This is flexible, so if March 15th comes along and I still just don’t have what I need, I’ll just keep on extending it. I had the same challenges with the Sistah Vegan anthology and I didn’t give up. I just kept on reminding myself, “Maybe now is not the time, but maybe in six months, maybe in a year,” and eventually I got everything that I needed together to create this, I think, beautiful project that really adds this voice and adds a perspective to this vegan movement. This vegan cultural practice in North America that is largely still, when you look at [mainstream] media, those who are really represented are just the white, middle class perspective, which of course isn’t bad, because of course that is a valid perspective. But there are many other perspectives and problems that the media, whether it’s vegan mainstream media or just regular media in general, they just really don’t represent other ways of knowing and being. And I’m hoping that having had Sistah Vegan do so well, I’m showing that there are alternative voices within the vegan movement that we can now move onto looking at what the Brothas have to say.

So if you have any questions, comments, please always always feel free to email me, sistahvegan (at) gmail (dot) com, or you can post something on the blog if you think everybody else whose reading it may benefit from that question. Okay? Good luck with your creativity and I really look forward to listening to, reading, experiencing what brothah vegans have to say.

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