View article

3 chapter examines the complex question of universalism the context of ecofeminist animal advocacy. This set of debates has broad importance for the “animal advocacy movement” 1 and is often exploited as a means by which to critique vegetarianism or veganism. 2 Given that ecofeminism already has a history of considering these debates, this chapter argues that intersectional ecofeminist thinking on this question has much of value to offer the broader animal advocacy movement which can add rigor to its liberatory roadmap. The subject of universalism and associated accusations of ethnocentrism could arise in a number of areas associated within either animal advocacy or ecofeminism, but it is the question of a universal vegetarianism or veganism4 that has most often been the target of these discourses. The charge of universalism is sometimes assumed, by those making it, to instigate a wholesale denigration of vegan practice and to call into question the value of anyone being vegan. The charge could be seen partly as a defensive response to what is a threat to the very established social norm of animal consumption. However, at the same time