Recent representations of human–animal relationships in farming have tended to focus on human experience, and to essentialise animal subjectivity in granting them a centred subjectivity akin to that assumed to be possessed by humans. Instead, this paper develops an understanding of the coproduction of domestic livestock animal subjectivities and the technologies used in farming domestic livestock animals, based on an analysis of texts produced by agricultural scientists, farmers, and equipment manufacturers relating to the effects of introducing new robotic milking technologies into dairy farming. Drawing particularly on Foucault's conceptions of subjectivity and biopower, I explore the emergence of particular forms of bovine subjectivity associated with robotic milking. Through an analysis of a wide range of secondary sources, the paper shows that, although robotic technologies have been presented as offering cows ‘freedom’, better welfare, and a more ‘natural’ experience, other relations of domination come into effect in association with such technologies and their spatialities. These are expressed through the manipulation of animal bodies and behaviours, in expectations that cows move and act in particular ways, and through normalisation and individualisation processes. I argue that nonhuman animal subjectivities in agriculture are thus heterogeneous, fluid, and contingent on specific sets of relationships between animals, humans, and technologies and on specific agricultural microgeographies. The paper ends by acknowledging that these relationships need further empirical exploration in terms of both attempts to understand animals’ changed experiences and ways of being, and their ethical implications in particular situations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonK, 1997, “A walk on the wild side: A critical geography of domestication”Progress in Human Geography21463–485
2.
AndersonK, 2003, “White natures: Sydney's Royal Agricultural Show in post-humanist perspective”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series28422–441
3.
ArtmannRBohlsenE, 2000, “Results from the implementation of automatic milking system multi-box facilities”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held in Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press, Wageningen) pp 221–231
BoydWWattsM, 1997, “Agro-industrial just-in-time: The chicken industry and postwar American capitalism”, in Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring Eds GoodmanDWattsM, (Routledge, London) pp 192–225
6.
BraunB, 2004, “Modalities of posthumanism”Environment and Planning A361352–1355
7.
BullerHMorrisC, 2003, “Farm animal welfare: A new repertoire of nature–society relations or modernism re-embedded?”Sociologia Ruralis43216–237
8.
BussJ, 2004a, “EU-wide study gives automatic milking systems the all-clear”Farmers Weekly 9 April, page 36
9.
BussJ, 2004b, “Grazing cows will return to the robot at milking time”Farmers Weekly 9 April, pp 36–37
10.
CallonM, 1986, “Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay”, in Power, Action and Belief Ed. LawJ, (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) pp 196–233
11.
CastreeNNashC, 2006, “Editorial: Posthuman geographies”Social and Cultural Geography7501–504
12.
ConveryIBaileyCMortMBaxterJ, 2002, “Farmers and the farmed”, paper presented at the Emotional Geographies conference, Lancaster University, 23–25 September
13.
ConveryIBaileyCMortMBaxterJ, 2005, “Death in the wrong place? Emotional geographies of the UK 2001 foot and mouth disease epidemic”Journal of Rural Studies2199–109
14.
CoxGAshfordT, 1998, “Riddle me this: The craft and concept of the animal mind”Science, Technology and Human Values23425–438
15.
DEFRA, 2004Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2003 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland) and Welsh Assembly Government, The Department for Environment, Planning and the Countryside (The Stationery Office, London)
16.
de KoningKRodenburgJ, 2004, “Automatic milking: The state of the art”, in Automatic Milking: A Better Understanding Eds MeijeringAHogeveenCdeKonigC, (Academic Publishers, Wageningen) pp 27–37
17.
DonaldsonALowePWardN, 2002, “Virus–crisis–institutional change: The foot and mouth actor network and the governance of rural affairs in the UK”Sociologia Ruralis42201–214
18.
EmelJWolchJ, 1998, “Witnessing the animal moment”, in Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature–Culture Borderlands Eds WolchJEmelJ, (Verso, London) pp 1–24
19.
EmelJWilbertCWolchJ, 2002, “Animal geographies”Society and Animals10407–412
20.
EvansNYarwoodR, 1995, “Livestock and landscape”Landscape Research20141–146
21.
FAWC, 2004Report on the Welfare Implications of Animal Breeding and Breeding Technologies in Commercial Agriculture (Farm Animal Welfare Council, London)
22.
FoucaultM, 1975The Birth of the Clinic (Vintage Books, New York)
23.
FoucaultM, 1979Discipline and Punish (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middx)
24.
FoucaultM, 1982, “The subject and power”, in Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuration and Hermeneutics Eds DreyfusHRabinowP, (Harvester Press, Hemel Hempstead, Herts) pp 208–226
25.
FoucaultM, 1990The History of Sexuality. Volume 1: An Introduction (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middx); first published in 1976
26.
FoucaultM, 2001Madness and Civilisation (Routledge, London); first published in 1961
27.
FranklinA, 1999Animals and Modern Culture: A Sociology of Human–Animal Relations in Modernity (Sage, London)
28.
FraserD, 2003, “Assessing animal welfare at the farm and group level: The interplay of science and values”Animal Welfare12433–443
GrasseniC, 2005, “Designer cows: The practice of cattle breeding between skill and standardisation”Society and Animals1333–50
32.
GravertH, 1992, “Automatic milking and animal breeding”, in Prospects for Automatic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Prospects for Automatic Milking, Wageningen, Netherlands, 23–25 November 1992 Eds IpemaALippusAMetzJRossingW, European Association for Animal Production, Rome, pp 395–400
33.
GrayJ, 1998, “Family farms in the Scottish Borders: A practical definition by hill sheep farmers”Journal of Rural Studies14341–356
34.
HalachmiIMetzJSpeelmanL, 2000, “Designing the optimal robotic milking barn: Theory and practice”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press, Wageningen) pp 159–166
35.
HarawayD, 2003The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People and Significant Otherness (Prickly Paradigm Press, Chicago, IL)
36.
HinchliffeS, 2001, “Indeterminacy in-decisions: Science, policy and politics in the BSE crisis”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series26182–204
37.
HinchliffeSKearnesMDegenMWhatmoreS, 2005, “Urban wild things: A cosmopolitical experiment”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space23643–658
38.
HollowayL, 2001, “Pets and protein: Placing domestic livestock on hobby-farms in England and Wales”Journal of Rural Studies17293–307
39.
HollowayL, 2005, “Aesthetics, genetics, and evaluating animal bodies: Locating and displacing cattle on show and in figures”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space23883–902
40.
HollowayLMorrisC, 2005, “Animal bodies and genes: Contested expertise in the fields of breeding for beef and disease eradication”, paper presented at the RGS-IBC Annual International Conference, London, 31 August–2 September 2005; copy available from the author
41.
HurnikJ, 1992, “Ethology and technology: The role of ethology in automation of animal production processes”, in Prospects for Automatic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Prospects for Automatic Milking, Wageningen, Netherlands, 23–25 November 1992 Eds IpemaALippusAMetzJRossingW, European Association for Animal Production, Rome, pp 401–408
42.
JonesO, 2003, “‘The restraint of beasts’: Rurality, animality, actor network theory and dwelling”, in Country Visions Ed. ClokeP, (Pearson Education, Harlow, Essex) pp 283–307
43.
Ketelaar-De LauwereCIpemaA, 2000, “Cow behaviour and welfare if grazing is combined with voluntary automatic milking”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press, Wageningen) pp 289–296
44.
Ketelaar-De LauwereCDevirSMetzJ, 1996, “The influence of social hierarchy on the time budget of cows and their visits to an automatic milking system”Applied Animal Behaviour Science49199–211
45.
KnightC, 2001, “A vision of dairy production in the UK”, in Integrated Management Systems for Livestock Eds WathesCFrostAGordonFWoodJ, (British Society of Animal Science, Edinburgh) pp 51–57
Lely, no date, “We offer you the best, naturally”, advertising brochure, Lely (UK) Ltd, St Neots, Cambs
49.
LindOIpemaAde KoningCMottramTHermannH-J, 2000, “Automatic milking: Reality, challenges and opportunities”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press, Wageningen) pp 19–31
50.
LukeT, 1997, “At the end of Nature: Cyborgs, ‘humachines’, and environments in postmodernity”Environment and Planning A291367–1380
51.
MaltzE, 2000, “Precision agriculture in dairying: Individual management by automatic milking systems”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press,Wageningen) pp 132–142
52.
MathijsE, 2000, “Public acceptance of robotic milking”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press, Wageningen) pp 243–247
53.
MichaelM, 2000Reconnecting Culture, Technology and Nature: From Society to Heterogeneity (Routledge, London)
54.
MidgleyM, 1983Animals and Why They Matter: A Journey Around the Species Barrier (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middx)
55.
MillarK, 2000a, “The role of bioethical analysis in assessing automatic milking systems: Examples of animal issues”, in Robotic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Lelystad, The Netherlands, 17–19 August 2000 Eds HogeveenHMeijeringA, (Wageningen Press,Wageningen) pp 248–258
56.
MillarK, 2000b, “Respect for animal autonomy in bioethical analysis: The case of automatic milking systems”Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics1241–50
57.
MottramTMassonL, 2001, “Dumb animals and smart machines: The implications of modern milking systems for integrated management of dairy cows”, in Integrated Management Systems for Livestock Eds WathesCFrostAGordonFWoodJ, (British Society of Animal Science, Edinburgh) pp 77–84
58.
MurdochJ, 2004, “Humanising posthumanism”Environment and Planning A361356–1359
59.
NetzR, 2004Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernity (Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT)
60.
NoskeB, 1997Beyond Boundaries: Humans and Animals (Black Rose Books, Montreal)
61.
NovekJ, 2005, “Pigs and people: Sociological perspectives on the discipline of nonhuman animals in intensive confinement”Society and Animals13221–244
62.
OudshoornNPinchT, 2003, “Introduction: How users and non-users matter”, in How Users Matter: The Co-construction of Users and Technologies Eds OudshoornNPinchT, (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 1–25
PageB, 1997, “Restructuring pork production, remaking rural Iowa”, in Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring Eds GoodmanDWattsM, (Routledge, London) pp 133–157
65.
PalmerC, 2001, “‘Taming the wild profusion of existing things’? A study of Foucault, power and human/animal relationships”Environmental Ethics23339–358
66.
PhiloCWilbertC, 2000, “Animal spaces, beastly places: An introduction”, in Animal Spaces, Beastly Places: New Geographies of Human–Animal Relations Eds PhiloCWilbertC, (Routledge, London) pp 1–34
67.
PileSThriftN, 1995, “Introduction”, in Mapping the Subject: Geographies of Cultural Transformation Eds PileSThriftN, (Routledge, London) pp 241–266
68.
PluharE, 1995Beyond Prejudice: The Moral Significance of Human and Nonhuman Animals (Duke University Press, Durham, NC)
69.
PrattG, 2000, “Geographies of subject formation”, in The Dictionary of Human Geography4th edition, Eds JohnstonRGregoryDPrattGWattsM, (Blackwell, Oxford) pp 802–804
70.
QuinnM, 1993, “Corpulent cattle and milk machines: Nature, art and the ideal type”Society and Animals1145–158
ReganTSingerP, 1976Animal Rights and Human Obligations (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ)
73.
RisanL, 2005, “The boundary of animality”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space23787–793
74.
RitvoH, 1987The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
75.
SeabrookM, 1992, “The perception by stockpersons of the effect on their esteem, self concept and satisfaction of the incorporation of automatic milking into their herds”, in Prospects for Automatic Milking: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Prospects for Automatic Milking, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 23–25 November 1992 Eds IpemaALippusAMetzJRossingW, European Association for Animal Production, Rome, pp 409–413
76.
SharpM, 2003, “Choosing the layout that fits the robots”Farmers Weekly 28 March, pp 87–88
SmithC, 1983, “A case study of structuration: The pure-bred beef business”Journal for Theory of Social Behaviour133–18
79.
SpörndlyEKrohnCvan DoorenHWiktorssonH, 2004, “Automatic milking and grazing”, in Automatic Milking: A Better Understanding Eds MeijeringAHogeveenCdeKonigC, (Academic Publishers, Wageningen) pp 263–272
80.
StassartPWhatmoreS, 2003, “Metabolising risk: Food scares and the un/re-making of Belgian beef”Environment and Planning A35449–462
81.
StibbeA, 2003, “As charming as a pig: The discursive construction of the relationship between pigs and humans”Society and Animals11375–392
82.
ThomasK, 1983, Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500–1800 (Allen Lane, London)
83.
ThriftN, 2005Knowing Capitalism (Sage, London)
84.
UfkesF, 1998, “Building a better pig: Fat profits in lean meat”, in Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity at the Nature–Culture Borderlands Eds WolchJEmelJ, (Verso, London) pp 241–258
WaltonJ, 1984, “The diffusion of the improved Shorthorn breed of cattle in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. New Series922–36
87.
WaltonJ, 1986, “Pedigree and the national cattle herd circa 1750–1950”Agricultural History Review34149–170
88.
WaltonJ, 1999, “Pedigree and productivity in the British and North American cattle kingdoms before 1930”Journal of Historical Geography25441–462
89.
WattsM, 2000, “Afterword: Enclosure”, in Animal Spaces, Beastly Places: New Geographies of Human–Animal Relations Eds PhiloCWilbertC, (Routledge, London) pp 292–304
90.
WebsterA, 2003, “Assessment of animal welfare at farm and group level: Introduction and overview”Animal Welfare12429–431
91.
WhatmoreS, 2000, “Heterogeneous geographies: Reimagining the spaces of N/nature”, in Cultural Turns/Geographical Turns Eds CookICrouchDNaylorSRyanJ, (Pearson Education, Harlow, Essex) pp 265–272
WhatmoreSThorneL, 1998, “Wild(er)ness: Reconfiguring the geographies of wildlife”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series23435–454
94.
WhatmoreSThorneL, 2000, “Elephants on the move: Spatial formations of wildlife exchange”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space18185–203
95.
WiktorssonHSorensenJ, 2004, “Implications of automatic milking on animal welfare”, in Automatic Milking: A Better Understanding Eds MeijeringAHogeveenCdeKonigC, (Academic Publishers, Wageningen) pp 371–381
96.
WilkieR, 2005, “Sentient commodities and productive paradoxes: The ambiguous nature of human–livestock relations in Northeast Scotland”Journal of Rural Studies21213–230
97.
WilliamsA, 1999, Review of Animal Geographies: Place Politics and Identity in the Nature–Culture Borderlands Eds WolchJEmelJ, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space17621–624
98.
WolchJEmelJ, 1995, “Bringing the animals back in”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space13632–636
99.
WoodsM, 1998, “Mad cows and hounded deer: Political representations of animals in the British countryside”Environment and Planning A301219–1234
100.
YarwoodREvansN, 1998, “New places for ‘Old Spots’: The changing geographies of domestic livestock animals”Society and Animals6137–165
