ABSTRACT
This chapter explains some salient aspects of the human relationship with one particular farmed animal - the sheep. It explores what other opportunities there might be for developing response-ability and respect. Sheep are the archetypal domesticated animals of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene figure of the sheep is psychosocially constructed through relations of production and consumption and attendant dynamics of fragmentation, objectification and commodity fetishism. Anthropocene is not homogenously experienced, nor are the human-animal and multi-species relations within it. Human-sheep relations, in sum, have been central to the rise of modernity and, more specifically, to a modern 'commitment to the large-scale reorganization of territories, peoples, environments and species as dictated by the idea of industrial, capitalist and imperialist "progress". Sheep are the archetypal domesticated animals of the Anthropocene. The chapter consider the nature of the encounter, how it is experienced and the extent to which, echoing Despret and Meuret, the crafting of new attachments and connections becomes possible.
