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Women and Cattle
- Author(s):
- Alice Hovorka, Andrea Petitt (see profile)
- Date:
- 2020
- Group(s):
- Bovine Scholarship Network
- Item Type:
- Article
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/tm1n-hn89
- Abstract:
- Cattle form an integral part of lives, livelihoods, and landscapes in Botswana. They offer people socio-cultural and politico-economic means through which to participate in society as respected and supported citizens. When asked what it means to have cattle, many of our study respondents stated: “I feel like a person” or “cattle are life.” At the same time, people shape the circumstances and experiences of cattle. Human connections to cattle within subsistence and commercially-oriented realms generate practices of ownership, rearing, and (re)producing of this particular species that influence their value, role, and use. Human-cattle relations emerge and evolve through historically-situated social relations of power based on gender, ethnicity, and class. In turn, these relations present people with different political and economic opportunities associated with cattle production, and present cattle with different opportunities for eating, drinking, moving, and breeding. Ultimately, intersectional human-cattle relations make both humans and cattle who they are in terms of societal positionality, economic opportunities, and political clout. Humans and cattle are “becoming-with” – using Donna Haraway’s concept — in Botswana with implications for humans, cattle, and the broader context.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 1 year ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
petitt-and-hovorka-2020.pdf