🌎 “A Unifying Vegan Horizon”

The Voices in Vegan Studies online speaker series kicks off with a talk from Arihanta Institute Professor Jonathan Dickstein.

May 20 | 9:00 - 10:30 am PDT

Like the word “veganism” itself, the field of “Vegan Studies” is simultaneously easy and challenging to define. In this talk, Dickstein will introduce the new Vegan Studies Initiative at Arihanta Institute and discuss the horizon point unifying the three educational components of the initiative. He then pivots to the various definitions of “veganism,” past and present, exploring the cogency and utility of these distinct and sometimes conflicting interpretations. Ultimately, Dickstein presents the case for a minimal, practice-based definition as the foundation for Vegan Studies.

Jonathan Dickstein is Assistant Professor of Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute. He received a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2022. Jonathan’s areas of research include Jain Studies, religion and ecology, comparative ethics, and South Asian religions.

Voices in Vegan Studies Speaker Series

The aim of the Voices in Vegan Studies (ViVS) series is to bring mainstream Vegan Studies research and ideas to the Jain community and scholars working in Engaged Jain Studies, and to expose non-Jains to the many ways Jain philosophy and practice align with veganism and how Jains connect their veganism to their religious heritage and identity.

The series will be spread out over nine lectures and features talks from:
6/17 - Jan Dutkiewicz, Pratt Institute
7/1 - Ed Winters, Vegan Public Speaker & Educator
7/15 - Cheryl Abbate, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
8/19 - Maneesha Deckha, Professor, University of Victoria, British Columbia
9/16 - Pritesh Mutha, UT Health Houston
10/21 - Renan Larue, University of California, Santa Barbara
11/18 - Nirva Patel, Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School
12/16 - Shaleen Shah, Luvin Arms Animal Sanctuary

Please register for each session individually from the Voice in Vegan Studies event page! We hope you can join us for this free online speaker series.

Info + registration:
voices.arihantainstitute.or