Between Populism and Popular Citizenship in Science Conflicts

This paper explores the tension between popular citizenship and populism in food science controversies focusing on the vegan movement in Denmark as an illustrative case of Chantal Mouffe’s (2018) call for a new left populism, articulating political positions that are counter-establishment and that provide alternative knowledge positions on food, science and the environment. An institutional outlet for this movement is the relatively newly formed Danish Vegan Party currently collecting signatures to run at the next parliamentary election. The party is an avid user of digital media in formulating alternative positions on facts, knowledge and truths about food, its impact on the environment and the naturalness with which animal products are consumed and produced. In answering the research question: How do political movements draw on digital citizenship to articulate alternative knowledge positions that contribute to a populist discourse on food, science and the environment?, the paper draws on 1) data from Twitter, Facebook and web pages from the Danish Vegan Party and the Vegan Association and 2) data from legacy media showing how these political movements enter into the public debate. The chapter follows Ernesto Laclau in viewing populism as a ‘mode of articulation’ of political frontiers (Laclau, 2005, 153) and Engin Isin and Evelyn Ruppert (2015) in seeing populist demands as acts of digital citizenship. I argue that this perspective provides an understanding of the tension between valid citizen concern and populistic mistrust in science in relation to food, health and the environment.