Animal disease and narratives of nature: Farmers' reactions to the neoliberal governance of bovine Tuberculosis

Maye, Damian ORCID: 0000-0002-4459-6630, Enticott, Gareth, Naylor, Rhiannon, Ilbery, Brian W and Kirwan, James R ORCID: 0000-0002-4626-9940 (2014) Animal disease and narratives of nature: Farmers' reactions to the neoliberal governance of bovine Tuberculosis. Journal of Rural Studies, 36. pp. 401-410. doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.07.001

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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between neoliberal styles of animal disease governance and farmers' understandings of disease and nature. In the UK, new styles of animal disease governance has promised to shift the costs and responsibilities of disease management to farmers, creating opportunities for farmers to take responsibility for disease control themselves and opening up new markets for disease control interventions. Focussing on the management of bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) and drawing on interviews with 65 cattle farmers, the paper examines how farmer responses to these new styles of animal disease governance are shaped by their own knowledges and understandings of nature and disease. In particular, the paper examines how two key narratives of nature – the idea of ‘natural balance’ and ‘clean and dirty badgers’ – lead farmers to think about the control of bTB in wildlife (such as the choice between badger culling and/or vaccination) in very specific ways. However, whilst discourses of cost and responsibility appear to open up choice opportunities for farmers, that choice is constrained when viewed from the perspective of farmer subjectivities and narratives of nature. Discourses of neoliberalism as control rather than choice are therefore revealed, drawing attention to the complexities and plural strategies of neoliberal governance.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Bovine TB; Badger culling; Badger vaccination; Neoliberalism; Farmer subjectivities; Narratives of nature; REF2021
Subjects:	S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S589.7 Agricultural ecology (General) S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > Countryside and Community Research Institute
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Damian Maye
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2015 11:00
Last Modified:	03 Feb 2022 18:16
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/1193

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