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Article In:
The Social Semiotic Forum: Special issue of the Journal Language, Context and Text 6:1 (2024)
Edited by Elizabeth A. Thomson, Awni Etaywe, Ingrid Wijeyewardene and Penny Wheeler
[Language, Context and Text 6:1] 2024
► pp. 122–145

Feeling, thinking, acting

An intersemiotic study of empathy and compassion in vegan discourse

ORCID logo | Østfold University College , Norway | University of Wollongong , Australia

This article considers the multi- and intersemiotic expression of empathy and compassion in a campaign organised by the Vegan Society. It draws upon insights from ecofeminism and the ethics of care as well as systemic functional semiotics as a way of exploring how instances of attitude (affect, judgment and appreciation) in the campaign’s various texts might be negotiated and shared, creating potentials for empathetic and compassionate responses. The study finds that parts of the campaign represent empathy and compassion as exemplars for readers to follow, while other parts of the campaign, especially social media, provide readers with an opportunity to enact empathy and compassion. The study also identifies gendered and generational dimensions, and suggests that syndromes or clusters of positive and negative attitude can form the basis for empathetic and compassionate responses.

Keywords: empathy, compassion, appraisal, intersemiosis, veganism, campaign, ethics of care, animal ethics, ecofeminism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Veganism, the Vegan Society and the “Be AnimalKind” campaign
  • 3.Empathy, compassion and the ethics of care
  • 4.Appraisal: Emotion, ethics, aesthetics
  • 5.Attitude and engagement in the “Be AnimalKind” campaign
    • 5.1Written introductory text
    • 5.2Introductory video
    • 5.3Short written texts and videos
    • 5.4Social media
  • 6.Representing, enacting and encouraging empathy and compassion
  • 7.Gendered and generational dimensions of empathy and compassion
  • 8.Empathy and compassion: Some concluding thoughts
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
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