Meat Ecologies: Reflections on Livestock, Cattle and Dairy practices in the Global South

Panel Convenor(s)

• SN

  Soheb Niazi

  International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Netherlands

Panel Chair(s)

• SN

  Soheb Niazi

  International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Netherlands

Presenter(s)

• ST

  Shaheed Tayob

  Stellenbosch University, South Africa
• VS

  Vishal Singh Deo

  Manipal Academy for Higher Education, India
• MH

  Mohomodou Houssouba

  University of Basel, Switzerland

Despite the growing concerns over ecological implications and inhumane conditions in contemporary livestock farming, there remains a lack of comprehensive knowledge about the industry’s historical development. The recent pandemic exposed the widespread transmission of COVID-19 in slaughterhouses emphasizing the dire working conditions within these facilities. An understanding of the historical development of the global meat industry is urgent as it allows us to comprehend the processes which have led to the persistent and continuous expansion of the  global production of animal flesh for human consumption despite wide criticism.

This panel on Meat Ecologies will bring together scholars and case studies from North India, Mumbai, Tibet, Indonesia and West Africa to reflect on livestock, cattle and dairy practices in the Global South.  As a key methodological approach which informs the panel, Meat as a commodity of production forms the conceptual focus. However, allied with the meat industry are the industries of livestock and dairy production, animal hides and skins and tanning as well as the production of leather goods. An overarching concern of the panel is to understand the ecological implications of the development of these industries and how they brought about significant transformations through technological innovations within the agrarian economy, as both livestock and food are primary produce of agrarian economies.

Presentations:

• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  Fresh and Frozen Chicken in Mumbai: Texture and Taste; Profit and Presence; Theory and Subjectivity
  

  Presenter: Shaheed Tayob – Stellenbosch University
• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  Hove prints, commons and reclamation: Examining the colonial attack on the livestock economy to resuscitate the land settlements in India 1860-1900s.
  

  Presenter: Vishal Singh Deo – Manipal Academy for Higher Education
• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  “Red Sauce”: How Urbanization Drives Meat Consumption and a Deepening Health Crisis in West Africa
  

  Presenter: Mohomodou Houssouba – University of Basel