Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Actor-Enacted: Cumbrian Sheep in 2001

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Material Agency

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In this sentence we combine tropes from Latour (1988) who talks of actors as entities that act and Haraway (1991), who talks of making a difference.

  2. 2.

    Callon (1986).

  3. 3.

    See, for instance, Akrich (1992) and (Law: 2003).

  4. 4.

    It was difficult to take photographs of Cumbrian sheep on that date, since the countryside was closed to the general public for disease control reasons.

  5. 5.

    For general accounts of the early evolution of the policy see Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, pp 76ff). For a timeline see National Audit Office (2002, Appendix 1, pp 105–111).

  6. 6.

    National Audit Office (2002, 61).

  7. 7.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 88).

  8. 8.

    The Minister muffed his lines by talking of ‘animals’ rather than ‘sheep’ to the horror and the anger of dairy and beef farmers. Cumbria Foot and Mouth Disease Inquiry (2002, 34).

  9. 9.

    The Royal Society (2002, 18).

  10. 10.

    The Royal Society (2002, 78).

  11. 11.

    This happened close to the beginning of the outbreak. See Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2002, 22).

  12. 12.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 49).

  13. 13.

    Cumbria Foot and Mouth Disease Inquiry (2002, 49, 55). ELISA is the acronym for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Royal Society (2002, 76).

  14. 14.

    Formal policy, in the form of ‘slaughter on suspicion’ fell into line with practice on March 15th. National Audit Office (2002, 61).

  15. 15.

    For details see Kao (2002), The Royal Society (2002, 66–71), and Taylor (2003).

  16. 16.

    The list of possible heterogeneities is endless.

  17. 17.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 96).

  18. 18.

    The complex intersections of practices is explored in Mol (2002).

  19. 19.

    ‘The justification for culling contiguous premises was founded on a statistical concept. All the models showed that culling farms neighbouring infected premises would reduce spread of infection and control the epidemic. This was based on the observation that, on average, animals on 34% of premises within a radius of 1.5 km of infected premises came down with FMD. Although culling contiguous premises was a blunt policy instrument, it had the benefit of speed in decision making. It did not depend on the epidemiological groundwork to identify dangerous contacts, which was resource intensive and time consuming.’ Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 96).

  20. 20.

    See, for instance, Shannon (2002, 5).

  21. 21.

    There were one or two other models as well: here we are simplifying.

  22. 22.

    The first was a quickly-calculated, relatively simple deterministic, pseudo-geographical model, developed at Imperial College, London. The other was a much more complex, GIS-based, stochastic model with many more heterogeneities that was being run at the government in-house Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA). In the middle of March these agreed that the epizootic was growing. Otherwise, they were very different. The VLA model predicted a total of 1000–2000 infected premises by the end of the outbreak. The epizootic would, it said, stop in due course. Much more alarmingly, the Imperial College model predicted 1000 new infective premises each day by mid May. See National Audit Office (2002, 61) and Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 88).

  23. 23.

    The 3 km precautionary cull was supported by the proponents of both models.

  24. 24.

    During this period all exports of meat and live animals were stopped. Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 133). This was only a small proportion of the cost to the overall economy.

  25. 25.

    The Royal Society (2002, 12).

  26. 26.

    House of Commons Select Committee on Agriculture (2001, Answer to Question 499).

  27. 27.

    House of Commons (2001, Column 94 WH).

  28. 28.

    Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (2002, 13). See also the comments by Peter Atkinson MP ‘Before the foot and mouth epidemic, farming incomes, particularly those of hill farmers, were historically low. Some estimated their annual incomes just before the epidemic at about £4,000, although others would describe that as extremely optimistic. Since the outbreak, incomes have fallen even further..’. House of Commons (2001. Column 90 WH). See, in the same debate, the comments by Alan Beith MP: ‘Hill farmers cannot continue taking less than the cost of production, which they are doing now and have sometimes had to do in the past.’, House of Commons (2001. Column 94 WH) .

  29. 29.

    Peter Atkinson, MP, in the House of Commons (2001, Column 91 WH).

  30. 30.

    ‘I was talking to a farmer who was selling horned Blackface sheep for carcass export at 270p a kilo before the foot and mouth outbreak; after the outbreak the price is 150p a kilo because there is no export market.’ This is Alan Beith, MP. See House of Commons (2001, Column 94 WH).

  31. 31.

    See the intervention by MP Peter Atkinson at House of Commons (2001, Column 90 WH), and the testimony of Ms Boundy at Mercer (2002, 52).

  32. 32.

    The Royal Society (2002, 12).

  33. 33.

    Ashworth, Palmer and Northen (2000, 97). ‘Support payments for sheep and cattle under the CAP are paid on a headage basis, meaning that the more animals a farmer keeps, the greater the subsidy he receives. The number of breeding ewes in the uplands increased by around 35% between 1980 and 2000.’ English Nature, quoted by the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (2002, 74).

  34. 34.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 132).

  35. 35.

    Mercer (2002, 77). This quotation comes from the Devon Inquiry and does not refer to a Lake District flock.

  36. 36.

    ‘One of the worst things was the twin lambs from a sheep that was giving birth as the sheep had been rounded up just minutes earlier. The sheep would have been a good mother as it was really reluctant to leave them and difficult to load.’ (Jackson: 2001, 108).

  37. 37.

    Mol (2006).

  38. 38.

    Stockdale (2001, 114) .

  39. 39.

    This is in time for the CAP headage payment.

  40. 40.

    It cares much less well for the uplands where there was substantial overgrazing, encouraged, according to the critics, by the CAP headage subsidy for breeding ewes. See English Nature, quoted in Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (2002, 74).

  41. 41.

    They could also be used for cows that were wintering in the byre, but this is just another of the many complexities we leave out.

  42. 42.

    Hence the importance of the welfare slaughter scheme. For an account of the difficulties faced by hill farmers, see David Curry MP at House of Commons (2001, 96 WH).

  43. 43.

    Jackson (2001, 109).

  44. 44.

    There is a small body of work which explores the character of animals and micro-organisms in the context of situated and multiple practices. See Haraway (2003), Bingham (2006) and Hinchliffe (2001). The work of Laurent Thévenot (2001) on moral complexity in practice also touches on relations with animals and indeed sheep.

  45. 45.

    Mol (2002) talks of the ‘body multiple’. For related arguments, see Law (2002).

  46. 46.

    For a diary account of an away posting during lambing, see Buckle (2001).

  47. 47.

    For discussion of the complex character of partial connections, see Strathern (1991).

  48. 48.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 49).

  49. 49.

    Stockdale (2001, 223).

  50. 50.

    This is why zebra never got domesticated. For discussion see Diamond (1997).

  51. 51.

    Donaldson (2002).

  52. 52.

    Dring (2001).

  53. 53.

    Scudamore (2002, 13).

  54. 54.

    For a fascinating account of the need for collaboration in action, see Callon and Rabeharisoa (2004).

  55. 55.

    Taylor (2004).

  56. 56.

    Heaton (2002).

  57. 57.

    For agency understood as fluidity, see de Laet and Mol (2000).

  58. 58.

    There is fine work on the specificities of markets, and the enactment of commodities in Callon (1998b). See, in particular, his (1998a).

  59. 59.

    House of Commons (2001, 90 WH).

  60. 60.

    House of Commons (2001, 94 WH).

  61. 61.

    House of Commons (2001, 94 WH).

  62. 62.

    See Peter Atkinson MP at House of Commons (2001, 91 WH) and National Audit Office (2002, 102).

  63. 63.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 132).

  64. 64.

    At least nine to ten thousand years. See Clutton-Brock (1999, 74).

  65. 65.

    The former care of shepherds may well lie at the origins of hefting that can thus be understood as a form of self-care. See Smart (2001).

  66. 66.

    Mawdsley (2001).

  67. 67.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 128).

  68. 68.

    On action at a distance, see Latour (1987).

  69. 69.

    Mawdsley (2001).

  70. 70.

    And indeed in certain areas of the fells, for instance around the Old Man of Coniston and Wrynose Pass, there are now fences to keep the sheep in place. The hope is that they can be removed once the sheep have learned where they may safely graze.

  71. 71.

    Cohen (2001).

  72. 72.

    This argument is explored in Strathern (1991).

  73. 73.

    Mercer (2002, 77).

  74. 74.

    Maclean (2001, 55).

  75. 75.

    On ambivalence, see Singleton (1996).

  76. 76.

    Frost-Pennington (2001, 7).

  77. 77.

    Stockdale (2001, 114).

  78. 78.

    The classic essay on unintended consequences comes from Merton (1957, 60–69).

  79. 79.

    Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (2002, 2).

  80. 80.

    Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry (2002, 30).

  81. 81.

    Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (2002, 73).

  82. 82.

    No wonder that even in the most beautiful social science ‘whodunit’, the author, Latour cannot find the answer to the question: ‘who killed Aramis’ (see Latour (1996)).

References

  • Akrich, M., 1992, The De-Scription of Technical Objects. In Shaping Technology, Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change, edited by E. Bijker and J. Law, pp. 205–224. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashworth, S., Palmer, M., and Northen, H., 2000, An Economic Evaluation of the Sheepmeat Regime as Applied in the United Kingdom, Auchincruive, Ayr: SAC, also available at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/shpmtreg/

  • Bingham, N., 2006, Bees, Butterflies and Bacteria: Biotechnology and the Politics of Nonhuman Friendship. Environment and Planning A, 38(3): 483–498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckle, M., 2001, No title. In Foot and Mouth: Heart and Soul. A Collection of Personal Accounts of the Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Cumbria 2001, edited by C. Graham, pp. 34–47. BBC Radio Cumbria, Carlisle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., 1986, Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of Saint Brieuc Bay. In Power, Action and Belief: a new Sociology of Knowledge?, edited by J. Law, pp. 196–233. Sociological Review Monograph, 32, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., 1998a, Introduction: the Embeddedness of Economic Markets in Economics. In The Laws of the Markets, edited by M. Callon, pp. 1–57. Blackwell and the Sociological Review, Oxford and Keele.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M. (ed.), 1998b, The Laws of the Markets, Blackwell and the Sociological Review, Oxford and Keele.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., and Rabeharisoa, V., 2004, Gino's Lesson on Humanity, Economy and Society 33: 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, J., 1999, A Natural History of Domesticated Animals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, N., 2001, Well, Goodbye Dolly. The Observer, 8th April, 2001, also available at http://politics.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/comment/0,9236,470361,00.html.

  • Cumbria Foot and Mouth Disease Inquiry, 2002, Report. Cumbria Foot and Mouth Disease Task Force, Carlisle. http://web.archive.org/web/20021016132125/http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/news/footandmouth/inquiry/f&m_inquiry_report.pdf, updated 16th October, 2002, (accessed 29th August, 2003).

  • de Laet, M., and Mol, A., 2000, The Zimbabwe Bush Pump: Mechanics of a Fluid Technology, Social Studies of Science 30(2): 225–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, 2002, Origin of the UK Foot and Mouth Disease Epidemic in 2001. London, http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/inquiries/lessons/fmdorigins.pdf, updated June 2002, (accessed 29th August, 2003).

  • Diamond, J. M., 1997, Guns, Germs and Steel : a Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years. Jonathan Cape, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, A., 2002, Note of Meeting 8 April 2002. Lessons to be Learned Inquiry, London. http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/fmd/fmd_report/documents/B-MeetingNotes/Institute%20of%20Animal%20Health%20-%20Dr%20Alex%20Donaldson.pdf, (accessed 28 February 2006).

  • Dring, J., 2001, My Involvement with the Waughs. DEFRA, London, http://www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/pdf/dringstatement.pdf, updated 16th March 2004, (accessed 9th August 2004).

  • Foot and Mouth Disease 2001, Lessons to be Learned Inquiry, 2002, Report, London: London, The Stationery Office, http://213.121.214.218/fmd/report/index.htm, (accessed 28th August, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost-Pennington, P., 2001, Into the Valleys of Death. In Foot and Mouth: Heart and Soul. A Collection of Personal Accounts of the Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Cumbria 2001, edited by C. Graham, pp. 7–8. BBC Radio Cumbria, Carlisle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. J., 1991, Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. In Simians, Cyborgs and Women: the Reinvention of Nature, edited by D. Haraway, pp. 183–201. Free Association Books, London, also available at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/rt21/concepts/HARAWAY.html.

  • Haraway, D. J., 2003, The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. Prickly Paradigm Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heaton, S., 2002, Cumbria Public Meeting. Lessons to Be Learned Inquiry, London, http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/fmd/fmd_report/documents/A-Submissions/Ref%20414.pdf, (accessed 21 February 2006).

  • Hinchliffe, S., 2001, Indeterminacy In-Decisions: Science, Policy and Politics in the BSE Crisis, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 26: 182–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • House of Commons, 2001, Upland Farming, Hansard 372: (23), Cols 96 WH, (18 July 2001), also available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk.

  • House of Commons Select Committee on Agriculture, 2001, Minutes of Evidence: Examination of Witnesses (Questions 480–499), Wednesday 25 April, 2001, The Stationery Office, London, also available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmagric/363/1042508.htm.

  • Jackson, H., 2001, Foot and Mouth. In Foot and Mouth: Heart and Soul. A Collection of Personal Accounts of the Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Cumbria 2001, edited by C. Graham, pp. 108–109. BBC Radio Cumbria, Carlisle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kao, R. R., 2002, The Role of Mathematical Modelling in the Control of the 2001 FMD Epidemic in the UK, Trends in Microbiology 10(6): 279–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., 1987, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society. Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., 1988, Irréductions, published with The Pasteurisation of France. Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., 1996, Aramis, or the Love of Technology, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Law, J., 2002, Aircraft Stories: Decentering the Object in Technoscience, Duke University Press, Durham, N.Ca.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Law, J., 2003, Traduction/Trahison: Notes on ANT, University of Oslo, Oslo, TMV Working Paper, 106, also available at www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/papers/law-traduction-trahison.pdf; 1997.

  • Maclean, D., 2001, Foot and Mouth. In Foot and Mouth: Heart and Soul. A Collection of Personal Accounts of the Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Cumbria 2001, edited by C. Graham, pp. 53–57. BBC Radio Cumbria, Carlisle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mawdsley, R., 2001, Diary. Heart of Cumbria, http://web.archive.org/web/20020123225817/www.heartofcumbria.com/diaries/mawdsley1.htm, (accessed 26th July 2004).

  • Mercer, I., 2002, Crisis and Opportunity: Devon Foot and Mouth Inquiry 2001. Tiverton, Devon Books, http://www.devon.gov.uk/fminquiry/finalreport/, (accessed 28th August, 2003).

  • Merton, R. K., 1957, Social Theory and Social Structure. Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mol, A., 2002, The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice, Duke University Press, Durham, N. Ca., and London:

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mol, A., 2006, De Logica van het Zorgen: Actieve Patiënten en de Grenzen van her Kiezen, Amsterdam: Van Gennep; (forthcoming in English as The Logic of Care: Active Patients and the Limits of Choice).

    Google Scholar 

  • National Audit Office, 2002, The 2001 Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. National Audit Office, London, HC 939, http://www.nao.gov.uk/publications/nao_reports/01-02/0102939.pdf, updated 21st June 2002, (accessed 15th September 2003).

  • Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food, 2002, Farming and Food: A Sustainable Future. Cabinet Office, London, also available at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/farming/pdf/PC%20Report2.pdf.

  • Scudamore, J. M., 2002, Note of Meeting 10 April 2002. Lessons to Be Learned Inquiry, London. http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk, (accessed 26 February 2006).

  • Shannon, D., 2002, Note of a Meeting on 8 April 2002 with Dr David Shannon, retired Chief Scientist, DEFRA. Lessons to Be Learned Inquiry, London. http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/fmd/fmd_report/documents/B-MeetingNotes/Dr%20 David%20Shannon.pdf, (accessed 24 February 2006).

  • Singleton, V., 1996, Feminism, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and Postmodernism: Politics, Theory and Me, Social Studies of Science 26: 445–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smart, K., 2001, Herdwick Sheep – the Irreplaceable 'Wild' Sheep who are the Lake District's Gardeners. News and Star, 24 March 2001, also available at http://www.visitcumbria.com/herdwick.htm.

  • Stockdale, M., 2001, Foot and Mouth. In Foot and Mouth: Heart and Soul. A Collection of Personal Accounts of the Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Cumbria 2001, edited by C. Graham, pp. 112–117. BBC Radio Cumbria, Carlisle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strathern, M., 1991, Partial Connections. Rowman and Littlefield, Savage Maryland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C., 2004, Coleen's Story. Farmtalking, http://web.archive.org/web/20020411165451/http://www.farmtalking.com/coleenstory.html, updated 19th July, 2004, (accessed 5th January 2007).

  • Taylor, N., 2003, Review of the use of Models in Informing Disease Control Policy. Development and Adjustment, Reading: Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU), School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, The University of Reading, also available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/science/documents/publications/2003/UseofModelsinDiseaseControlPolicy.pdf.

  • The Royal Society, 2002, Infectious Diseases in Livestock. Scientific Questions Relating to the Transmission, Prevention and Control of Epidemic Outbreaks of Infectious Disease in Livestock in Great Britain. Royal Society of London, London. http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/inquiry/, (accessed 29th August 2003).

  • Thévenot, L., 2001, Which Road to Follow? The Moral Complexity of an 'Equipped' Humanity. In Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge Practices, edited by J. Law and A. Mol. Duke University Press, Durham, N.Ca

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Science Studies and Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1, 4YN, UK

    John Law

Authors
  1. John Law
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Annemarie Mol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Law .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Carl Knappett

  2. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Lambros Malafouris

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Law, J., Mol, A. (2008). The Actor-Enacted: Cumbrian Sheep in 2001. In: Knappett, C., Malafouris, L. (eds) Material Agency. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74711-8_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation