Regenerative Relationships: Mutuality, Identity, and Ethics in Sustainable Agriculture

As agricultural systems contend with an ever-changing environment, it becomes increasingly important to turn our attention to the web of living beings that structures these systems—including the relationships between humans and non-human animals. A growing body of literature examines the gender and sexual dynamics inherent to agricultural production in the United States, and some sociological work engages with the symbolic and micro interactions between humans and non-human animals raised for agricultural purposes. Through an ethnographic study of women sustainable farmers and their interactions with livestock, I use the concepts of domination, relationality, and mutuality to examine how an individual’s subordinated location within a dominant, dualistic framework positions them to approach relationships with other subordinated beings through a reimagined network of relation. I argue that women farmers are structurally positioned to recognize and affirm a shared suppression with livestock, which leads to a transformation of self, ethics, and politics oriented toward mutuality.