My name is Abdourahamane Ly, I am a vegan animal rights activist from Guinea and this month I am guest curating #Veganuary for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative. Veganuary is an annual challenge created by an organization in the UK encouraging people to adopt a vegan lifestyle for the month of January. I will share with you some of the books that have had the biggest impact on my journey into animal rights and Veganism from a global perspective. 

While Veganism has been subject to criticism as a movement that supposedly centers the privileged and the wealthy, I am here to show you that veganism and the modern-day animal rights movement is one that draws on global principles of compassion, fairness, and justice that have existed for thousands of years. The animal rights movement is depicted as a ‘white’ movement, making people believe that those in the global south, Indigenous or otherwise, are incapable of demonstrating compassion for the non-human animal. But in fact, the animal rights movement often draws from concepts central to Indigenous beliefs. Ethical veganism has drawn from Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism across Asia, and reflects the connectedness of humanity and the environment reflected in African philosophical traditions such as Ubuntu. 

From non-human animals as sacred totems who cannot be eaten or harmed, to animals that are believed to be the spirits of our ancestors, African tradition is fundamentally compatible with vegan ethics. 

This month my list of books, both nonfiction and fiction, come from around the world and have inspired me to think critically about my relationship with non-human animals and pushed me to see the ways in which our struggles are interconnected. While the term ‘vegan’ is slowly being coopted by capitalism to sell a lifestyle, it is a movement fundamentally grounded in social justice and fairness. 

This Veganuary I invite you to find the time to read some of these works and explore your own relationship with non-human animals and the natural world. 

Abdourahamane Ly has been vegan for the past five years now. He is extremely passionate about animal rights and encouraging more humans, especially Africans, to go vegan. He was born in Guinea in West Africa but spent the last 13 years in China. He is currently in Rwanda spreading the vegan message. You can follow him on Instagram at @fulanivegan and X at @fulanivegan.