Mariapia Rosa Campanella
The halal meat as symbol of religious identity: animal rights and cultural rights
By Mariapia Rosa Campanella
Introduction
When we start a discussion about the food-related cultural
traditions, it is fundamental to highlight how food production and
consumption are both connected to the relation between the man and
the environment, the socio-political processes, the ethical and
the moral issues behind the production of a certain kind of food.
These processes are, indeed, the ones that give meaning to the
food, and open a discussion about what can be considered “proper”
or “not proper”.
My aim is to demonstrate how food practices are subject to
constant interpretations and re-negotiations, in order to
highlight the debate between animal rights and cultural rights.
My essay will focus on the debate between two groups: the animal
rights’ defenders in Sweden and the people who insist on obeying
the rules of ritual Islamic slaughter. I will use some of
empirical data collected for my master thesis on the halal food in
Stockholm County. I will explore the ethical aspects of animal
slaughter and the “cultural rights” of Muslims (to have access to
“proper food” that follows the Qur’an prescriptions) in the
context of a country like Sweden, where the animal rights movement
1
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
has strong bases.
In the first paragraph, I will focus on the report between food
and political ecology. I will also build a very brief introduction
to Islamic dietary rules.
The aim of this introduction will be to make the reader able to
understand what actually halal means, in order to show all the
practical implications of this meaning
After this necessary theoretical digression, I will frame the
topic of the halal food in the context of the debate between the
animal rights and the cultural rights of Muslims who live in non-
Islamic (majority) Countries, highlighting the ethical and moral
aspects of ritual slaughtering and using the relevant literature
to build a discussion on animal rights and cultural rights.
I will report the particular case of Sweden, highlighting the
actual situation about the animal rights defenders and the
cultural needs of Muslim communities.
Finally, I will add some closing remarks, summarizing my work and
adding some personal considerations, in order to give also a
critical approach to my essay. I will also try to answer the
research questions.
My work will be articulated on some fundamental questions.
- What insights can Political Ecology provide for the study of
my problem (the debate between animal right defenders, and
halal meat users)?
- How it is possible to contextualize the issue of the animal
2
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
rights inside the frame of ‘proper food’ (intended as halal)?
- What moral issues arise in the conflict between animal rights
and cultural rights related to halal food?
- Is there a possibility to develop a study of “ethical
production-consumption” related to “proper food” idea?
1.1 Political ecology and food production-consumption
Food can be seen as a window onto important aspects of social and
political life. It is not simply something what gives us energy.
It is also a cultural and social product, a base for the
relationship with one another, and a very important connection
with the natural world.
Recent works in food studies have focused on the relationship
between culture, identity, production and consumption. This means
that we can learn a lot about people, and the meanings those
people give to the world, through the study of food and
agriculture practices.
The tools provided by political ecology can help us to define how
the relation between man and environment affects the food
production-consumption, and to understand the systems behind these
processes. I have decided to support my theories using some
specific scientific publications, in order to highlight the
different theoretical perspectives on food and political ecology,
and the tools provided for the study of the meanings attributed to
3
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
food, the relation between man, environment and bodily processes,
the unequal access to food, and the different perception of the
concept of “goodness”.
A good start for this kind of study is Ryan Galt’s work about the
importance of the concept of “food systems” and the way the food
production-consumption shapes the social world.
He uses a political ecology approach that combines qualitative and
quantitative methods, “Comparing market relations in export,
national, and local agrifood systems, and their shaping by
geographically uneven processes of regulation and social change,
unequal access to resources, and environmental processes1”.
Besides, he focuses on the relation between agrifood systems and
food economy, highlighting how the food systems present the
problem of unequal access to the resources. We should keep this
last point in mind, because I will examine it further.
Another extremely interesting approach to the study of the report
between political ecology and food comes from the work of Allison
and Jessica Hayes-Conroy. In their article “Veggies and
Visceralities: A Political ecology of Food and Feeling”, they
illustrate their empirical research on school garden and cooking
programs, “Highlighting the ways in which a political ecology
approach to emotion and affect can help to make sense of the
complex and contradictory nature of food-body relationship2”. 1 Galt R. E. 2013. "Placing Food Systems in First World Political Ecology: A Review and Research Agenda." GEC3 Geography Compass 7 (9): 637-658.2 Hayes-Conroy, J., and A. Hayes-Conroy. 2013. Veggies and visceralities: a political ecology of food and feeling. Emotion, Space and Society 6: 81-90.
4
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
This article is useful to our studies, not only because it
analyses the Actor Network Theory approaches to “Develop a
relational ontology of the body3”, but also because it highlights
one of the most important points of this essay, the “goodness of
the food” as something “Experienced in a negotiable and
differentiable way among families and communities4”. Besides, it
introduces both the concepts of feeling and sense experienced
through bodily processes, and explains how the emotive/affective,
visceral impetus to eat a certain food does not exist in the first
place, but is culturally oriented.
This approach easily matches with our research topics, not only
because it shows how the experience of the food is culturally
oriented, but also because it analyses how our relation with food
is an unpredictable process.
So, going back to the first question -“What insights can Political
Ecology provide for the study of my problem (the debate between
animal right defenders, and halal meat users)?”- We could see that
political ecology, indeed, gives us many important tools for the
study of my research topic, not only because it makes us reflect
on the report between man, environment and bodily experiences, but
also on those processes which contribute to determine the cultural
perception of the food (and consequentially the “goodness” seen
through the lens of a moral discourse). Besides, it highlights how
the economical processes connected to food production-consumption
imply, on the one hand, a discourse about the vulnerability of3 Idem4 Idem
5
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
people who cannot afford the “good” food (when “good” is a concept
subject to cultural interpretation), and on the other hand, how
economic systems are both agents and subject to agency processes
(I will go into this last point later).
After this theoretical introduction to the report between food and
political ecology, I suppose it would be useful for the reader to
have a little introduction to what exactly is the food I will talk
about in this essay.
Once the reader will clearly have in mind the basic rules of
Islamic dietary prescriptions, it would be easier to understand
which points could be analysed, first in the discussion about the
contrast between animal rights and cultural rights inside
processes of cultural re-negotiation, and then, in the context of
ethics and morality in food production-consumption.
1.2 Halal and haram food: a brief introduction
Generally, in Islam, every object and action is considered
permissible unless there is a prohibition of it in the Islamic
scriptures.
Halal is used in reference to foods; the word literally means,
“permitted”. The most common example of non-halal (or haram) food is
pork.
The food must come from a Muslim, who is supposed to invoke the
name of Allah, saying “Bismillah” (“In the name of God”), and
6
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
perform the slaughter. Then, the animal has to be killed with a
knife by cutting the throat, causing the animal’s death without
cutting the spinal cord. Lastly, all the blood must be drained5.
Foods that are not halal for Muslims, according to Qurʼanic
verses, are:
-Pork
-Blood
-Alcohol
-Animals killed without the consecration to Allah.
-Animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but "Allah".
-Carcasses of dead animals.
-An animal that died in a non-halal way or was not healthy before
slaughter6.
Besides, there are five specific terms to describe the lawfulness
of food:
1) Halal means permitted and lawful. It concerns not only the meat,
but also other foods, cosmetics and personal care products.
2) Haram means forbidden. It is directly opposite to halal.
3) Mushtabihat is something ambiguous or questionable, and is
determined by the presence of ingredients of dubious origins.
4) Makruh is something that is not clearly haram, but is considered
unpleasant by Muslims.
5) Dhabiha is a term often used by Muslims to differentiate the
meat slaughtered by a Muslim, with the meat slaughtered by People
5 Al-Qaradawi Y.,1994. The lawful and the prohibited in Islam, Plainfield: American trust publications P. 82-89.
6 Ibidem P. 98
7
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
of the Book (Jews and Christians) or by people with no religious
connotation7.
This is actually a very brief introduction to the topic of halal
food. During my studies, I had the chance to expand this topic,
analysing how the current dietary practices have been shaped
through the interpretation of the different Doctrine sources (the
Qur’an, The traditional life of Prophet Muhammad and the work of
Law schools). I am not going too deep on these topics, because my
purpose is to give a general overview on the principal food rules
and on the slaughtering practices, in order to analyse why the
animal rights contrast with such practices.
Indeed, the first problem that emerges from this introduction is
connected to the animal’s conditions before slaughter. Since it
must be healthy before the ritual, a stunned animal cannot lead to
a real halal food, as intended into the Scriptures.
Now we have a clear picture of which kind of food we are talking
about; I think it would be useful to have an overview on its
consumption and the particular restriction that Muslim's “proper
food” consumers have to face with in Sweden.
1.2 European “proper food” consumption: animal rights, cultural
rights and the Swedish Animal Welfare Act
7 Benkheira M. H., 2000. Islam et interdits alimentaire, Paris, Presses Universitaire de France P.58-67.
8
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
As I previously said, political ecology provides many analytical
tools for the study of the meanings attributed to the food and its
production-consumption. Since I am studying a particular kind of
food (halal), I will try to frame the research in the European
(especially Swedish) context, highlighting the legal situation of
ritual slaughter and the oppositions of animal rights association.
Besides, I will bring up some empirical data collected during my
interviews.
I will also show how the animal rights issue can be contextualized
in the “proper food” frame, in order to answer to the second
question I formulated (How it is possible to contextualize the
issue of the animal rights inside the frame of ‘proper food’
intended as halal?).
In Europe the legal situation of ritual slaughter changes from
Country to Country. On the one hand, Article 9 of the European
Convention on Human Rights gives the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, and religion, which includes the freedom to manifest a
religion and its practices and observance, subject only to such
restrictions as are “in accordance with law” and “necessary in a
democratic society8 ”.
On the other hand, the European Union directive, “European
Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter”, generally
requires stunning before slaughter, but allows member states to
make exemptions for religious slaughter: “Each Contracting Party
may authorize derogations from the provisions concerning prior8 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/food_safety/animal_welfare/
f82001_en.html
9
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
stunning in the following cases: – slaughtering in accordance with
religious rituals9...”.
In Sweden, ritual slaughter is regulated by the Swedish Animal
Welfare Act. This practice without stunning has been prohibited
since 1937, so all domestic animals must be stunned before
slaughter10.
Sweden has strict animal protection laws. It also has a long
tradition of campaigns for Animal Rights, supported by different
associations. We can find a suitable example in the organisation
Djurens Rätt (Animal Rights). Today, Djurens Rätt it is the leading
animal rights and animal welfare organisation with 32,000
members11.
The solid institution of Animal Rights organizations has
contributed to a re-configuration of halal food production and
consumption in Sweden. Now, the Swedish situation about the halal
food is complicated, because the halal meat produced in Sweden comes
from stunned animals and cannot be considered really halal. Besides,
since the ritual slaughter has been banned from Denmark (February
2014), the Muslim communities (approximately the 6% of the total
population, according to the International Religious Freedom
9 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/eu_human_rights_convention_en.htm
10 http://www.government.se/content/1/c6/09/03/10/f07ee736.pdf11 http://www.djurensratt.se/
10
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
Report for 201312) have lost their bigger meat exporter13.
Still, there is ambiguity when we talk about what is halal and what
is “called halal”.
During my preliminary interviews for the master thesis, one of my
informants showed me an article about a case of tension with
animal rights defenders in Sigtuna.
Sigtuna Municipality served halal slaughtered chicken to students as
well as other municipalities, arousing the anger of those who
believed that the food served met the criteria of animal rights.
Therefore, the students’ parents argued that it was cruelty to
animals and they did not want their children to eat halal
slaughtered chicken.
At the end, the case was solved by Bjorn Artz, nutrition manager
at Sigtuna Municipality, who said that the birds were stunned
before slaughter, according to Swedish animal welfare, so they
were actually halal, but in the Swedish way14.
Well, this is not only an example of a typical debate between
animal rights and cultural rights defenders, but also an example
of that ambiguity I was talking about.
Therefore, the ritual slaughter is actually a “problem” that fuels
debates throughout Europe. During the literature search for the
master thesis, I have found many works on this “problem”, with
12 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?dlid=127339&year=2009#wrapper
13 http://www.worldbulletin.net/muslim-world/128887/denmark-to-ban-halal-and-kosher-slaughter-methods 14 http://www.marsta.nu/News.aspx?articleId=12001
11
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
different theoretical approaches.
There are scholars who discuss about the ritual slaughter
connected to the concept of democracy and minorities’ rights. I am
thinking about Markha Valenta's work, “Pluralist democracy or
scientist monocracy? Debating ritual slaughter15”, where we can
find inspiring examples of how scholars analysed these phenomena
through the lens of normative pluralism.
There are also scholars who try to analyse the social impact of
ritual slaughter in Europe and its consequences on animal rights
and consumer rights. Some valuable examples can be found in the
work of Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, who focuses on the integration
of ‘Muslim ritual slaughter’ into the national legislation of
Western European countries, and analyses the dispute between
animal welfare organisations and religious groups16.
The theme of the “dispute” also introduces a new clue. If there
are different positions, there must be different points that
support them.
We have seen that, in the food production-consumption the ways to
perceive the “goodness” could be different and, sometimes,
opposite. In the case of the debate between animal rights and
cultural rights, we can analyse the multiplicity of ways the food
can be perceived as an expression of what we believe is right or
wrong, and this could be directly reconnected to a moral
15 Valentha M. 2012. Pluralist Democracy or Scientistic Monocracy, Erasmus Law Review Vol. 5 Issue 1, P.27-41.16 Bergeaud- Blackler F. 2007.New Challenges for Islamic Ritual Slaughter: A European Perspective in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Volume 33, Issue 6 P. 965-980.
12
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
discourse.
Both sides in the debate have moral arguments, but they have
different moralities. They seem to have differing ideas of what is
a priority value attributed to an animal, its life and the way its
death is acceptable to us. This brings us back to the third
question: -What moral issues arise in the conflict between animal
rights and cultural rights related to halal food?
The answer concerns the actual definitions of “morals” and
“ethics” and their connection to the perception of the “goodness”
of the food. Besides, the moral and ethical discourses can be
expanded to the concept of an “ethical food production-
consumption”, highlighting how the producer and consumer’s
concerns about the food are strictly connected to the perception
of right and wrong.
1.3 Ethics and morals in food production-consumption
“Ethics” and “morals” are two concepts extremely broad. They
relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. Sometimes they are used
interchangeably, but they are different: ethics is about rules
coming from collective external source; morals refer to an
individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.
If the construction of what is ethical and what is moral is
strictly connected to the categories of “right” and “wrong”, we
13
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
cannot ignore a fundamental question: “What/who determines what is
right or wrong?”.
To answer this question it is fundamental to return to Cartesian
heritage expressed through the dualistic view, and to the nature-
culture division. There is absolutely no nature-culture fight when
we talk about animal rights and cultural rights. They both belong
to both categories. Everybody must eat to survive, but the way the
people provide food for themselves and eat it, are culturally
oriented. When we apply these concepts to our main topics, the
things become more complicated.
Still, there are different moral problems in food production-
consumption what deserve an appropriate analysis.
Many scholars tried to show their own vision of which kind of
moral and ethical issues are connected to the way the food is
produced and consumed, and there are some works that can actually
help us to answer to our fourth question -Is there a possibility
to develop a study of “ethical production-consumption” related to
“proper food” idea?-
I can think about the work of Frans Brom, who, in “Agricultural
and food ethics”, highlights that the food we eat and the ways we
prepare it are linked to our identities. This idea could also be
connected to Barth theories on social groups and boundaries, and
explain how such categories (like halal) became important when the
people encountered “otherness17”.
Going back to Brom, his work is particularly important because it17 Barth F. ed. 1998. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference (orig. Ed.1969). Lond Grove, Waveland Press Inc. P. 10-30.
14
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
focuses on the gap between the producer and the consumer concern
on the way the food is produced, highlighting in particular the
public concerns that matter to consumers in their role as
citizens, (e.g., concerns about animal welfare, sustainability,
bio-diversity and social justice18).
The issue of the gap between producer and consumer is a recurrent
topic in academic studies about ethics and morals connected to
food. An inspiring work of Michael Goodman analyses fair trade
attempts to re-connect producers and consumers economically,
politically, and psychologically through the creation of a
transnational moral economy19. This is an important example of that
kind of “anxiety” connected to the problem of the “moral
categorization”, and the consequent ethical behaviour within the
processes of food selection.
If we want to go even deeper, reconnecting directly to the issue
of ethics and morality in the production and consumption of halal
food, we could analyse the work Carla M. Zoethout.
In “Animals as sentient beings: on animal welfare, public morality
and ritual slaughter”, she focuses on the issue of the respect of
animals welfare framed in “21st Century public morality”, and
highlights the friction between animal rights and ritual
slaughter20. This article is an example of the current theories on
18 Brom F. W. A. 2000. “Agricultural and food ethics, form consumer concerns toprofessional ethics”. Italian Journal of Food Science, volume XII, 4. P.395-401.19 Goodman, Michael K.2004. Reading fair trade: political ecological imaginary and the moral economy of fair trade foods. Political Geography 23: 891–915.20 Zoethout C. M. 2013.Animals as Sentient Beings: On Animal Welfare, Public Morality and Ritual
15
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
moral and ethical aspects on food production-consumption connected
to the issue of animal welfare and halal. The discussion is
obviously broader and brings us back to the report between nature
and culture, man and environment, food and morality, people and
food economy.
About this last point, I would now briefly focus on the moral
aspects of food economy, because we cannot talk about production
and consumption, without talking about economic processes.
John Ikerd makes an important digression on economics and ethics
of food, highlighting how “Eating is a moral act. Our food choices
are a reflection of our personal social and ethical values, of our
morality. Our choices should not reflect what we think we can or
cannot do to change the world. Our food choices should reflect of
what we think is fundamentally right and good – not only for
ourselves but also for others, including those of future
generations21”.
According to his thought, through the simple act of eating: “We
become interdependent with the land and with each other. We become
interconnected with the physical energy that permeates the earth
and everything upon it and the spiritual energy that transcends
the earth that gives our lives purpose and meaning. We are more
than consumers. We are co-creators of the ecological, social, and
economic world in which we live out our lives and in which those
Slaughter. ICL Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3. P.308-326.21Ikerd J., The Economics and Ethics of food. Online paperhttp://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Denver%20-%20food%20economics%20ethics.html P. 1-2.
16
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
of future generations must live out theirs as well22”.
So, if we are all co-creators of this ecological, social and
economic world, our cultural peculiarities, the moral values and
the ethical behaviour are all part of the configuration of a
system.
Ikerd’s contribute does not end here. In one paper he resumes some
of the principal points of this essay, not only because he
highlights the report between eating and morality, man and
environment, consumers and social world, but also because he goes
back to the concept of food inequality, focusing on the different
access to food.
This last point becomes extremely interesting if we want to
analyse the different access to halal food in those Countries where
it is subject to ambiguity. There is a great difference between
who can afford the “high quality halal” food what is imported from
those places that have the permission to perform the ritual
slaughter without stunning, and those who cannot spend so much and
need to make compromises between the personal morality and the
personal finances.
This example could be used also to see the other side of the coin.
In a state where only halal meat is available, somebody who does not
want to eat this kind of food, due to his/her moral beliefs about
animal welfare, should have the economic possibilities to follow
22 Idem
17
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
the moral values. Otherwise he/she should make the same economy-
morality compromise.
Conclusions
This essay tries to expose the different theoretical approaches we
can use to study the phenomena of halal food, connected to the
issues of animal rights, ethical and moral aspects.
There could be no conclusion without a step back to the research
questions. I think that now it is clear for the reader how the
tools of political ecology are useful to frame the discussion of
food production-consumption. I have analysed how the report with
environment and the processes connected to politics, geography,
economy and culture have a significant role in the selection of
food.
Furthermore, I showed how the issue of religion-oriented food fits
in the discussion between animal rights and cultural rights,
highlighting both these positions, and bringing up some actual
examples.
Finally, I focused on the issue of the moral aspects of food
production-consumption and the different theoretical approaches to
the problem.
Sometimes I had the feeling I was building two barricades during
the essay writing.
18
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
I was thinking this while I was writing the last paragraph. I had
on my desk “Animal rights, cultural rights” by Mark Nuttal, and I
noticed something I missed before; the title on the book cover is
divided by a crack, exactly between the words “animal rights” and
“human rights”, to emphasize a clear separation between the first
and the second concept.
That was not my intention; I did not want to describe a reality
when people “fight” for what they think it is better, but just two
different (opposite) perspectives.
Bibliography
-Al-Qaradawi Y., c1994. The lawful and the prohibited in Islam, Plainfield:
American trust publications.
-Barth F. Ed. 1998. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of
Culture Difference (orig. ed.1969). Lond Grove, Waveland Press Inc.
-Bergeaud- Blackler F. 2007.New Challenges for Islamic Ritual
Slaughter: A European Perspective in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Volume 33, Issue 6.
-Benkheira M. H., 2000. Islam et interdits alimentaire, Paris, Presses
Universitaire de France.
-Brom F. W. A. 2000. “Agricultural and food ethics, form consumer
concerns to professional ethics”
Italian Journal of Food Science, volume XII, 4.
-Galt R. E. 2013. "Placing Food Systems in First World Political
Ecology: A Review and Research Agenda." GEC3 Geography Compass 7
(9).
19
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
-Goodman, M. K.2004. Reading fair trade: political ecological
imaginary and the moral economy of fair trade foods. Political
Geography 23.
-Hayes-Conroy, J., and A. Hayes-Conroy. 2013. Veggies and
visceralities: a political ecology of food and feeling. Emotion,
Space and Society 6.
-Ikerd J., The Economics and Ethics of food. Online paper
http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Denver%20-%20food
%20economics%20ethics.html.
-Valentha M. 2012. Pluralist Democracy or Scientistic Monocracy,
Erasmus Law Review Vol. 5 Issue 1.
-Zoethout C. M. 2013.Animals as Sentient Beings: On Animal Welfare, Public
Morality and Ritual
Slaughter. ICL Journal, Vol. 7 ( 3).
Websites
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/food_safety/
animal_welfare/f82001_en.html
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/
eu_human_rights_convention_en.html
http://www.government.se/content/1/c6/09/03/10/f07ee736.pdf
http://www.worldbulletin.net/muslim-world/128887/denmark-to-ban-
halal-and-kosher-slaughter-methods
http://www.djurensratt.se/
20
Mariapia Rosa Campanella
http://www.marsta.nu/News.aspx?articleId=12001
21
Top Related