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Exploring the human-animal-technology nexus: power relations and divergent conduct. The example of automated dairy farming.

Holloway, Lewis; Bear, Christopher

Authors

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Professor Lewis Holloway L.Holloway@hull.ac.uk
Professor of Human Geography. Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Christopher Bear



Contributors

Alice Hovorka
Editor

Sandra McCubbin
Editor

Lauren Van Patter
Editor

Abstract

This chapter develops an agenda for discussing less-than-convivial more-than-human relations. It reviews existing work on such relations before developing a terminology of ‘divergent conduct’ aiming to better express such relationships. The chapter uses an empirical case study of automated or robotic milking systems, and focuses on the relationships these establish between machines, humans, and cows in specific places. Divergent conduct aims to express how humans and nonhumans co-produce activities which are likely to differ from accounts of trouble-free introductions of technologies. The concept emphasises the agency of animals while paying attention to their relationships with people and machines. As such, it emphasises how farming is constituted in relation to multiple human and nonhuman requirements, and their related conducts, which may pull in different directions. The chapter argues that divergent conduct provides a way of exploring problematic entanglements in which inequalities of power can be many-layered and intersectional.

Citation

Holloway, L., & Bear, C. (2021). Exploring the human-animal-technology nexus: power relations and divergent conduct. The example of automated dairy farming. In A. Hovorka, S. McCubbin, & L. Van Patter (Eds.), A Research Agenda for Animal Geographies (55-68). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788979993.00010

Online Publication Date Jun 22, 2021
Publication Date Jun 1, 2021
Deposit Date Apr 4, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Publisher Edward Elgar Publishing
Pages 55-68
Series Title Elgar Research Agendas
Book Title A Research Agenda for Animal Geographies
Chapter Number 4
ISBN 9781788979986
DOI https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788979993.00010
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3793568
Publisher URL https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/a-research-agenda-for-animal-geographies-9781788979986.html

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Copyright Statement
This is a draft chapter. The final version is available in A Research Agenda for Animal Geographies edited by Alice Hovorka, Sandra McCubbin, and Lauren Van Patter, published in 2021, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781788979993.00010 The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher, and is for private use only.





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