1. Designing Cattle: The Social Practice of Constructing Breeds
- Author
-
Andrea Petitt and Camilla Eriksson
- Subjects
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified ,ComputingMilieux_THECOMPUTINGPROFESSION ,Sociology and Political Science ,Veterinary (miscellaneous) ,Social practice ,GeneralLiterature_MISCELLANEOUS ,Breed ,Education ,human-animal interaction ,science and technology studies (STS) ,cattle ,Genetics and Breeding in Agricultural Sciences ,breeding ,Anthropology ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Sociology ,Marketing ,sociotechnical imaginaries ,rare breeds ,Genetik och förädling inom lantbruksvetenskap ,Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap - Abstract
This paper explores how cattle breeds are constructed through social practice-which we conceptually develop as "designing" cattle. We show how breed varieties are designed, informed by the social, material and moral embeddedness of cattle breeding associations' visions of the future and how they draw on science and technology in their breeding strategies. Based on an analysis of the trade magazines of three different breeding associations, we illustrate how breeding associations are working to establish four different varieties of Swedish Mountain Cattle (SMC). We conclude that the concept of designing cattle enables us to unpack how breeds are socially constructed and institutionally stabilized through sociotechnical imaginaries.
- Published
- 2020
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