Pigs and profits

Hybrids of animals, technology and humans in Danish industrialised farming

Bibliographic Data

ID18965128
AuthorsI Anneberg (0000-0002-1043-5804, Aarhus University), Mette Vaarst (0000-0003-2830-2847, Institute of Animal Science; Aarhus University; Blichers Allé 20 Tjele 8830 Denmark), N Bubandt (0000-0003-1655-6727, Aarhus University)
Year2013
Volume21
Issue4
Pages542-559
Publication date2013-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-0282 • E-ISSN: 1469-8676
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1469-8676.12049
OpenAlexW1913482540
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited25

Farm animals live and die as part of a food production system rich in paradoxes. One central paradox of modern farming revolves around the classic anthropological opposition between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’. Inspired by Bruno Latour's diagnosis of the processes of purification and mediation that attend the separation between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ in the modern constitution, we trace how this paradox plays itself out on Danish pig farms. The paper argues that, although they have to be consistently ignored, hybrids of various kinds are essential to the co-production of meat and profit on industrial, debt-ridden and highly effective farms in the Western world

Agricultural science · Agriculture · Agronomy · Archaeology · Biology · Danish · Geography · Hybrid · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Organic Food and Agriculture · Philosophy · Biotechnology