The paper grew out of my interest in the centrality of calculability, the desire to express knowledge numerically, amongst UK #regenag farmers. The soc sc and humanities #microbes lit, and m-t-h lit more widely, is all about embodied knowledge and affect. So, why this disconnect? - ThreadSky

About ThreadSky

annakspeaking.bsky.social • 333 days ago

The paper grew out of my interest in the centrality of calculability, the desire to express knowledge numerically, amongst UK #regenag farmers. The soc sc and humanities #microbes lit, and m-t-h lit more widely, is all about embodied knowledge and affect. So, why this disconnect?

Comments

annakspeaking.bsky.social•333 days ago

I propose that even #regenag farmers operate within an agrarian biopolitics of 'farming by numbers' in which farming realities/landscapes and farmers themselves are made legible and governable through quantification (of money and material/ecological processes). Farmers are not passive in this,

annakspeaking.bsky.social•333 days ago

but self-governing. As a result, they experience the need to quantify both because of the demands from the powers which shape their realities (capital, state), and they use quantification to navigate these powers for their own benefit.

annakspeaking.bsky.social•333 days ago

What the paper argues, simply, is that calculability and quantification are not going to 'go away', and we need to deal with them as political powers which operate 'externally' (on people's realities) and internally (through their self-governance).

annakspeaking.bsky.social•333 days ago

Empirically, the case study brings out the knowledge and experience of #regenag farmers in relation to #soil #microbiome, and calls for more human-microbial studies with communities/places which are not already 'probiotic' (these farmers sit within the dominant agri-food system).

annakspeaking.bsky.social•333 days ago

Theoretically, I analyse the intersection of self-governance, calculability, and expertise in the making and unmaking of (micro)biopolitics. So, hopefully fun on both fronts.

I warmly invite discussion and feedback - find my email online or msg me here!

Posting Rules

Be respectful to others
No spam or self-promotion
Stay on topic
Follow Bluesky's terms of service

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply