About
Meatconomy.com is a reflection on issues in livestock production and meat consumption. I (Sasha) am a PhD student in Geography at the University of Illinois studying the world of meat with a focus on food safety, risk and the relationships to various security apparatuses. This blog is a way for me to reflect on the policy, activism, practice, and consumption issues that come across my screen in my daily explorations of meat. I am particulary interested in the way that new meat economies are being formed as alternatives to industrialized, containment production.
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Hi Sasha! I read your comment about the McWilliams thing over at Ethicurean and I definitely agree. I’ve been trained by geographers and anthropologists, so I bet that’s where some of our agreements and understandings on the history of science and science studies come from. Glad to find your blog! What are you writing your dissertation on?
Hi Stephanie,
Yes I suppose the political ecology tradition in Geography and Anthropology does predispose one to certain interpretations. My dissertation is actually in the early early stages (I’m a 2nd year PhD student) but I am planning on looking at the emergence of heritage livestock production, in particular pigs with a focus on examining the biopolitics of breeding, disease and containment. So really this whole discussion has very much relevant to my work. I’m particularly interested both in how heritage livestock links up with “conservation with development” models which are more typically seen in north-south environmental/trade relations but also how time and space intersect in a concept like heritage when it is linked up with the bodies of pigs and people. So a bit of more straightforward sustainable ag within a political ecology framework combined with a more social theory oriented examination of the the “production” of “nature” and “society” etc etc….
I’m hoping that this blog can turn into a way for me to connect the theoretical headspace that I’m in with more current issues and conversations and well this whole to-do over McWilliams has sort of gotten me off my ass in terms of starting to think that way.
Sasha, I’m so pleased to have found your blog. Please keep posting away! I’ve fallen out of the academic circuit since I finished my schooling and became a farmer, and it is pleasure to find such a balanced, witty, contemporary blog about food. You almost make me want to go back to school myself (but that is probably the rainy day talking).
Yes it must be the rainy day! No, school is great, but part of my reason for starting this blog is to try and force myself to translate the narrow world of academic-speak into terms that are relevant for people trying to understand the world. Being deep in the throws of preparing for my qualifying exams I find myself often wondering how my educate can lead to action out in the world. Part of the reason why I’ve chosen to study food and agriculture is that what I admire about those who are directly involved is that they are so consciously involved in the practice of turning theory into action and back again. Thanks for reading and I hope I can keep the wit factor high!