Visualising human-animal-technology relations : fieldnotes, still photography and digital video on the robotic dairy farm

Bear, Christopher; Wilkinson, Katy; Holloway, Lewis

Abstract

This paper explores the potential for developing less anthropocentric approaches to researching human-nonhuman relations through visual ethnography, critically examining the potential for conceptualising nonhuman animals as participants. Arguing that method in “more-than-human geography” and animal studies has developed at a slower pace than theory, it proposes visual approaches as a means through which to foreground the behaviour and actions of nonhuman animals in social research. This challenges underlying anthropocentric assumptions of visual ethnography, questioning the meaning of “participation” in visual research. The paper presents a comparison of approaches used in studying practices of robotic milking on dairy farms in the UK. Specifically, it compares the qualities of field notes, still photography and digital video in focusing on particular sites, moments and movements of robotic milking. While visual approaches are not a panacea for more-than-human research, we suggest that they do offer a means through which nonhumans might “speak for themselves” in social research. Rather than presenting definitive accounts, the inclusion of video in such work not only illustrates arguments but also leaves the actions of nonhumans open to further interpretation; the centrality of the researcher is destabilised.

Citation

Bear, C., Wilkinson, K., & Holloway, L. (2017). Visualising human-animal-technology relations : fieldnotes, still photography and digital video on the robotic dairy farm. Society & animals : social scientific studies of the human experience of other animals, 25(3), 225-256. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-12341405

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 6, 2014
• Online Publication Date: May 13, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 2, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: May 21, 2018
• Journal: Society and animals
• Print ISSN: 1063-1119
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 225-256
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-12341405
• Keywords: Video ethnography; More-than-human geographies; Photography; Visual methods; Robotic milking
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/376000
• Publisher URL: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15685306-12341405
• Additional Information: This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Society and animals, 2017. The version of record is available at the DOI link in this record.
• Contract Date: May 21, 2018