WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT? 
Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights questions the extent to which animal rights activists should promote animal rights ideals when attempting to persuade people to stop eating animals.

Contributing to a classic social movement framing debate, Professor Freeman examines the animal rights movement’s struggles over whether to construct farmed animal campaign messages based more on utility (emphasizing animal welfare, anti-cruelty farming reforms, dietary reduction of animal foods, and human self-interest like health) or based more on ideology (emphasizing animal rights and abolition of farming and eating fellow animals). Freeman prioritizes the latter, “ideological authenticity,” to promote a needed transformation in worldviews and human-animal identity, not just behaviors. This would mean framing “Go Veg” messages not only around compassion, but also around principles of ecology, liberty, and justice, convincing people that “it’s not fair to farm anyone" (in factory farms or on any farms).

Through a unique frame analysis of vegan campaign materials (from websites, to videos, to bumper stickers) at five prominent U.S. animal rights organizations, and interviews (in 2008 and 2012) with their leaders, Freeman answers questions, such as:
  • How is the movement defining core problems and solutions regarding animal farming and fishing?
  • To which values are activists appealing?
  • Why have movement leaders made these visual and rhetorical strategic choices – such as deciding between appealing to human self-interest, environmentalism, or altruism?
  • To what extent is the animal rights movement actually challenging speciesist discrimination and the human/animal dualism? 

Appealing to both scholars and activists, Framing Farming distinctively offers practical strategic guidance while remaining grounded in animal ethics and communication theory. It not only describes what 21st century animal rights campaigns are communicating, it also prescribes  recommendations for what they should communicate to remain culturally resonant while promoting needed long-term social transformation away from using animals as resources.

Dr. Freeman's recommendations revolve around:

Framing an animal-based diet as a problem because it is:
  • Unfair to sentient beings (with cruelty and suffering being a subcategory of injustice) and
  • Unsustainable and environmentally destructive.
The blame for problems falls upon a speciesist society that enables a lucrative consumer market for animal products, which are provided by an exploitative animal agribusiness and fishing industry that operates legally only with our permission.

Activists should engage the public as both consumers and citizens to explain everyone's culpability and capability toward individual and collective solutions, primarily:
  • Appreciating the sentience of all animals (including humans) and their mutual interest in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
  • Eating an animal-free diet and supporting wide access to organic plant-based foods;
  • Working as citizens to collectively create a less speciesist society -- transforming global institutions to be more just and sustainable for human and nonhuman species.
WHAT IS MEANT BY "FRAMING"?
Framing is a natural communication technique (operating within a larger discourse) used to package or organize messages in ways that make them more meaningful and understandable for intended audiences. Frames draw attention to certain aspects over others, define problems, and guide interpretations and actions. Todd Gitlin (2003) describes frames as helping to define "what matters" (p. 6). Studying frames helps you observe ideology at work (Snow & Benford, 2005).

Link here to PDF document that provides an overview of: 
Freeman's strategic recommendations for vegan advocacy campaigns 


Click here for a detailed table of contents for the book:
Framing Farming table of contents


Click Podcast button to download a 56 minute radio interview with the author.

The 5 Animal Organizations Profiled in the Book and the 6 Leaders Interviewed are:
  • Compassion Over Killing: Erica Meier
  • Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM): Alex Hershaft
  • Farm Sanctuary: Gene Baur and Bruce Friedrich
  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: Ingrid Newkirk
  • Vegan Outreach: Matt Ball

The book profiles some of the most important animal rights and vegan activists and organizations in the United States at the turn of the 21st century, not only providing a valuable historical record of their strategies, expertise, and insights, but also helping current citizens strategically shape the future of the animal rights and environmental movements' life-preserving efforts.


The author extends special appreciation to:
  • The Critical Animal Studies book series editors Dr. Helena Pedersen and Dr. Vasile Stanescue, 
  • Christa Stevens and the staff at Rodopi Press, a press now owned by Brill, whose editor Meghan Connolly now helps market the book, 
  • We Animals photographer Jo-Anne McArthur for the cover image.
Picture
Freeman as a Univ of Oregon grad student running a vegan campaign on Mother's Day to acknowledge exploitation of mothers (and their milk and eggs) in agriculture. We gave out soy icecream sandwiches.