Logics of cattle–capital

Bobrow-Strain, Aaron

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.10.003

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…During the past three to four decades, globalization has increasingly incorporated African livestock keepers in the world system, with implications for how land, labor, and livestock are managed. The literature indicates that there has been a move of African pastoralism toward capitalism during this period (Bobrow-Strain 2009;Chang and Koster 1994;Rigby 1985;Zaal 1998).…”

Section: Pastoralists As Nascent Capitalistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Transitions from Pastoralism to Ranching in Central Africa

Schareika¹,

Brown²,

Moritz³

2021

Current Anthropology

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The goal of this paper is to explain why and how increasing commoditization and incorporation in the market economy are only now leading to a critical transition from pastoralism to ranching in Central Africa. While there are similarities between pastoralism and capitalism-in both systems, entrepreneurs are strategically maximizing their "stock"-there are also differences. We argue that these differences can be understood as two distinct types of logic that are embedded within larger sociocultural systems: cattle logic and capital logic. Understanding how these logics operate within different systems is critical for explaining the current shift from pastoralism to ranching in Central Africa. We outline a theoretical model that integrates concepts from practice theory and the literature on critical transitions in social-ecological systems to explain the shift. We illustrate the theoretical model using a case comparison of three different livestock husbandry systems: Woɗaaɓe pastoralists in southeastern Niger, peri-urban Fulani pastoralists in the Far North Region of Cameroon, and Fulani ranchers in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon. We then use these cases to explain the persistence of cattle logic among the Woɗaaɓe in Niger, as well as the shift from cattle logic to capital logic among Fulani in Cameroon. Studying the transition from pastoralism to ranching is important because it has major implications, including increasing economic inequality, weaker community relations, and potential degradation of grazing lands, for livestock husbandry systems in Central Africa.

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Section: Pastoralists As Nascent Capitalistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Transitions from Pastoralism to Ranching in Central Africa

Schareika¹,

Brown²,

Moritz³

2021

Current Anthropology

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“…Under capitalism, relationships changed to treat livestock animals as tools for production and as commodities themselves, prioritising exchange‐values over use‐values (Gunderson, forthcoming; Bobrow‐Strain ; Van Ausdal ; Anthony ). According to Dickens (, p. 62), ‘[m]odern capitalist societies bring not only people but animals into the circuit of money capital, treating them as inputs to a process of commodity production’.…”

Section: Applying Alienation To the Industrial Dairy Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars in the social sciences and humanities have explored the role of nonhuman animals in society from a variety of perspectives, focusing on the historically and socially contingent relations between humans and animals in entertainment (Rothfels ; Kalof and Taylor ), agriculture (Bobrow‐Strain ; Stănescu ; Shukin ), science (Arluke ; Arluke ), companionship scenarios (Irvine ; Haraway ), and other human (sub)systems and lifeworlds. Human‐animal relations have been examined empirically, interpretively, and normatively from perspectives rooted in critical theory (Sanbonmatsu ), poststructuralism (Coppin ; Haraway ; Holloway ; Shukin ), feminism (Adams ), and symbolic interactionism (Jerolmack ), among other theoretical and philosophical traditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extending Social Theory to Farm Animals: Addressing Alienation in the Dairy Sector

2012

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We extend social theory to farm animals in an attempt to illustrate how non‐human animals embedded in social systems can be examined using sociological concepts. Inspired by efforts to include the freedom to express natural behaviour in farm animal welfare standards, we apply Marx's conception of alienation to dairy cows. We first examine industrial dairy farm conditions and find that these systems result in the distortion of life and the suppression of physical and social needs. We then explore alienation in an alternative production system where cows graze on pasture and choose when to be milked by robotic milking machines. Based on farm visits and interviews with farmers, we find that this alternative system addresses several aspects of alienation found in industrial dairy farms. However, despite the benefits associated with alternative production systems, forms of alienation will persist in all systems where maximising profits remains prioritised over life and wellbeing.

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Cattle-based livelihoods, changes in the taskscape, and human–bear conflict in the Ecuadorian Andes

Jampel

2016

Geoforum

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Logics of cattle–capital

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

Critical Transitions from Pastoralism to Ranching in Central Africa

Critical Transitions from Pastoralism to Ranching in Central Africa

Extending Social Theory to Farm Animals: Addressing Alienation in the Dairy Sector

Cattle-based livelihoods, changes in the taskscape, and human–bear conflict in the Ecuadorian Andes

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