Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines

This paper approaches thinking about animals via the animal humanities, focusing on the conflicting meanings ascribed to domesticated cattle: given the amount of biomass cattle currently occupy on earth, are they destroyers of the environment, or saviors of the planet? By investigating narrative tro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: LeVasseur, Todd
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/25299
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/25299
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Cows
Religious environmentalism
Religion
Climate change
Authentic religion
Animal studies
Vacas
Ecologismo religioso
Religión
Cambio climático
Religión auténtica
Literatura
Medio ambiente
Literature
Environmental science
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oai_identifier_str oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/25299
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
¿Dispensadores de metano o seres bio-dinámicos? Significados polisémicos de los bovinos rumiantes domesticados
title Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
spellingShingle Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
LeVasseur, Todd
Cows
Religious environmentalism
Religion
Climate change
Authentic religion
Animal studies
Vacas
Ecologismo religioso
Religión
Cambio climático
Religión auténtica
Literatura
Medio ambiente
Literature
Environmental science
title_short Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
title_full Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
title_fullStr Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
title_full_unstemmed Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
title_sort Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv LeVasseur, Todd
author LeVasseur, Todd
author_facet LeVasseur, Todd
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Cows
Religious environmentalism
Religion
Climate change
Authentic religion
Animal studies
Vacas
Ecologismo religioso
Religión
Cambio climático
Religión auténtica
Literatura
Medio ambiente
Literature
Environmental science
topic Cows
Religious environmentalism
Religion
Climate change
Authentic religion
Animal studies
Vacas
Ecologismo religioso
Religión
Cambio climático
Religión auténtica
Literatura
Medio ambiente
Literature
Environmental science
description This paper approaches thinking about animals via the animal humanities, focusing on the conflicting meanings ascribed to domesticated cattle: given the amount of biomass cattle currently occupy on earth, are they destroyers of the environment, or saviors of the planet? By investigating narrative tropes, especially those grounded within the at times competing and overlapping worldviews of religious environmentalism, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and Vedic/Hindu cosmologies, this paper explores the iterative interaction between how cows are conceived, and thus managed, in relation to human-nature interactions. Who can kill a cow, when, why, and for what purpose? How should cows be raised and treated? Do cows have their own form of intelligence, and even spiritual intelligence? Are cows one of the leading causes of climate destabilization and deforestation, or are they able to help avert runaway climate change? Should cows be the entry point into animal abolitionism? Investigating the competing and conflicting answers to such questions matters, for if we are to have any form of functional habitat that enables the flourishing of human and non-human lifeforms in the coming decades, then how we conceive of and manage and interact with other lifeforms, especially in the context of both religion and agriculture, matters. Emerging metrics suggests that our narrative, ethical, religious, and biological understandings of our evolutionary kin in the dawning Anthropocene will be fluid, contested, and in flux, and as scholars we must be prepared to interpret and analyze emergent meanings that will be ascribed to other lifeforms on our climate changed planet. Investigating cows—their labor, their environmental impacts, their role in shaping human societies and providing calories, the art of interacting with them on agricultural fields—presents a chance to rethink the human on a world of limits.
publishDate 2016
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2016
2016-04-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10017/25299
url http://hdl.handle.net/10017/25299
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Alcalá
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Alcalá
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
instname:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
instname_str Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
reponame_str e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
collection e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling Methane dispensers or bio-bynamic beings? Polysemous meanings of domesticated ruminant bovines¿Dispensadores de metano o seres bio-dinámicos? Significados polisémicos de los bovinos rumiantes domesticadosLeVasseur, ToddCowsReligious environmentalismReligionClimate changeAuthentic religionAnimal studiesVacasEcologismo religiosoReligiónCambio climáticoReligión auténticaLiteraturaMedio ambienteLiteratureEnvironmental scienceThis paper approaches thinking about animals via the animal humanities, focusing on the conflicting meanings ascribed to domesticated cattle: given the amount of biomass cattle currently occupy on earth, are they destroyers of the environment, or saviors of the planet? By investigating narrative tropes, especially those grounded within the at times competing and overlapping worldviews of religious environmentalism, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, and Vedic/Hindu cosmologies, this paper explores the iterative interaction between how cows are conceived, and thus managed, in relation to human-nature interactions. Who can kill a cow, when, why, and for what purpose? How should cows be raised and treated? Do cows have their own form of intelligence, and even spiritual intelligence? Are cows one of the leading causes of climate destabilization and deforestation, or are they able to help avert runaway climate change? Should cows be the entry point into animal abolitionism? Investigating the competing and conflicting answers to such questions matters, for if we are to have any form of functional habitat that enables the flourishing of human and non-human lifeforms in the coming decades, then how we conceive of and manage and interact with other lifeforms, especially in the context of both religion and agriculture, matters. Emerging metrics suggests that our narrative, ethical, religious, and biological understandings of our evolutionary kin in the dawning Anthropocene will be fluid, contested, and in flux, and as scholars we must be prepared to interpret and analyze emergent meanings that will be ascribed to other lifeforms on our climate changed planet. Investigating cows—their labor, their environmental impacts, their role in shaping human societies and providing calories, the art of interacting with them on agricultural fields—presents a chance to rethink the human on a world of limits.En trabajo analiza los animales pensantes a través de las humanidades animales, centrándose en los significados conflictivos atribuidos al ganado domesticado: ¿son destructores del medio ambiente, o salvadores del planeta? Al investigar los tropos narrativos, especialmente aquellos basados en las visiones del mundo, a veces rivales y superpuestas, del ecologismo religioso, la agricultura biodinámica y la agricultura sostenible, se explora la interacción iterativa entre cómo las vacas son concebidas y gestionadas en relación con las interacciones entren el ser humano y la naturaleza. Las preguntas de gestión pueden incluir: ¿Quién puede matar a una vaca, cuándo, por qué, y con qué propósito? ¿Cómo deben ser criadas y tratadas las vacas? ¿Tienen las vacas su propia forma de inteligencia, e incluso de inteligencia espiritual? ¿Son las vacas la principal causa de la desestabilización del clima y la deforestación, o pueden ayudar a evitar el cambio climático? ¿Deberían ser las vacas ser el punto de entrada en el abolicionismo animal? La investigación de las respuestas conflictivas a estas y otras preguntas es importante, ya que si los seres humanos han de tener algún tipo de hábitat funcional que permita el florecimiento de las formas de vida humanas y no humanas en las próximas décadas, es importante cómo los seres humanos conciben, gestionan e interactúan con otras formas de vida, especialmente en el contexto de la religión y la agricultura. Métricas emergentes sugieren que la narrativa, los entendimientos éticos, religiosos, familiares y biológicos de la evolución no humana en el Antropoceno naciente será fluida y controvertida. Por lo tanto, los especialistas deben estar preparados para interpretar significados emergentes que se pueden atribuir a otras formas de vida en un planeta frente al cambio climático. La investigación de las vacas—su trabajo, sus impactos ambientales, su papel en la conformación de las sociedades humanas y la disponibilidad de calorías, el arte de interactuar con ellos en los campos agrícolas—presenta la oportunidad de reconsiderar al ser humano en un mundo de límites.Universidad de Alcalá20162016-04-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501NAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10017/25299reponame:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcaláinstname:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/252992026-06-18T11:13:07Z
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