ABSTRACT
Political ecology, at its simplest, holds that ecology is political. Hence, politics, defined broadly, is a key factor in the changing relationships between organisms and other organisms, as well as with their larger milieu. The political ecology of meat builds upon the core concerns of political ecology and extends it further. Instead of a preoccupation with the marginalization of rural communities, it identifies marginalization in multiple places and in multiple subjects. As with mainstream political ecology, it traces the root of marginalization in political and economic institutions of varying spatial scales. A political ecology of meat bears witness to the ramifications of these institutions for people, animals and places. Finally the chapter also presents an overview of key concepts such as morphing of the livestock industry as a key developmentalist strategy, producer and consumer understandings, valorization of environmental justice, governance in the food animal industry that are discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book.
