ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two food-activism movements, the transnational Food Not Bombs network and UK-based Nottingham Vegan Campaigns, to examine how activists' navigation of tensions between theory and practice can inform a critical animal geography. It suggests that engaging with activists – and particularly participating in projects where complex political issues are articulated in practice – provides valuable insights about how to politicize theories that have proven popular in 'third-wave' animal geography, such as posthumanism and nonrepresentational theory. The chapter argues more specifically, that taking the work of activists seriously as theory is useful in balancing the need for concrete action demanded by critical animal studies (CAS) the decentering of the human called for by animal geographies and 'mainstream' animal studies more broadly. It presents the developing tactics to combat power relations between activists and other parties involved in the events; of using food to open space for dialogue with diverse publics; and the affective environment generated by the protests.
