Toward Indigenous Veganism: Kinship, Personhood, and the Ethics of Harm
Veganism is often caricatured as a recent, Western movement, disconnected from Indigenous realities and at odds with cultural survival. Yet a serious examination of Indigenous philosophies—especially those emphasizing kinship, reciprocity, and the personhood of animals—reveals that Indigenous veganism is not only possible but, for some, a natural extension of the most profound Indigenous values. This essay argues that Indigenous veganism offers a way to honor both animal and human persons, to reckon honestly with harm, and to answer the call for moral consistency in the wake of colonial disruption.
Personhood and the Ethics of Kinship
Many Indigenous worldviews recognize non-human animals, plants, and even landscapes as persons—beings with agency, interests, and an ability to enter into relationships. In these traditions, the world is a web of kinship, not a hierarchy of value. If this recognition is more than metaphor, then the moral imperative to avoid harming other persons extends beyond the human. To kill and consume an animal is, by this light, not categorically different from doing so to a human; both acts are a rupture in the web of kinship.
The usual distinction made between eating animals and eating humans is not rooted in a difference of vulnerability or moral worth, but rather in custom, taboo, and role assignment. Yet these boundaries, when examined critically, do not withstand moral scrutiny: if personhood is the ground of kinship and respect, then killing a person—human or otherwise—for food, pleasure, or ritual is an act of exploitation. To maintain that killing a non-human animal can be justified by ritual or gratitude, while killing a human cannot, is to reveal an unexamined speciesism within the relational framework itself.
Tradition, Colonialism, and Moral Responsibility
The legacy of colonialism in Indigenous communities is inseparable from food systems. Forced displacement, criminalization of traditional foods, and environmental devastation have produced real barriers to plant-based diets. For many, reclaiming hunting and fishing is a means of cultural resurgence and survival. However, tradition cannot serve as an absolute shield against ethical evolution. Human societies have always adapted to new moral insights—whether in rejecting patriarchy, ending slavery, or expanding the circle of concern to new groups.
Veganism is not a practice of perfection, but an ethic of minimizing harm where “practicable and practical.” The presence of Indigenous vegans demonstrates that, at least for some, it is feasible to align food choices with the value of respecting all persons. To claim that it is universally impossible, or that abstention from animal use is always a colonial imposition, erases the agency of those Indigenous individuals who, motivated by kinship and justice, choose veganism. Indeed, refusing to extend kinship to non-human animals—when survival no longer demands their consumption—amounts to a retrenchment, not a revitalization, of Indigenous values.
Ritual, Respect, and Moral Consolation
Rituals of gratitude and ceremony, performed after killing an animal, are often said to transform a bad act into a good one. Psychological research, however, shows that such rituals primarily help the killer manage guilt, cognitive dissonance, and maintain a positive self-image. The animal does not benefit from the ritual; the harm remains. Honesty demands acknowledgment that these practices meet the needs of the human participant, not the victim. Genuine respect for animal personhood would demand abstaining from harm wherever possible, not simply dressing harm in the language of respect.
The Path Forward: Indigenous Veganism as Continuity and Growth
Indigenous veganism does not reject tradition, kinship, or cultural sovereignty; it deepens and radicalizes them. It asks: If we are committed to living in respectful relationship with all our relatives, should we not extend that respect to the fullest degree possible, especially when survival does not require killing? Indigenous veganism offers an ethic of solidarity, both with vulnerable animals and with human communities still healing from trauma and dispossession. It is not an erasure of identity, but a call to expand the circle of kinship and compassion, in a spirit of justice, humility, and courage.
In this light, the adoption of veganism by Indigenous individuals and communities is not a betrayal of Indigenous philosophy, but its most courageous and consistent fulfillment. It is, in truth, a reclamation of the highest Indigenous values—a commitment to minimize harm, honor all persons, and repair the web of kinship wherever it has been broken.
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