DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2023.1.4| HAMMETT: WHAT FUTURE FOR QUEER COWS?_ INSIGHTOUT 1(2023)20Naomi HammettWhat Future for Queer Cows?ABSTRACTDrawing on queer theory and fat studies, in particular Lee Edelman’s No Future and his concept of‘reproductive futurism’, I argue that dairy cows can be considered queer because theyqueer concepts of‘nature’ and‘culture’. I argue that cows are caught up in their own‘reproductive futurism’ as the prevailing ideology of the dairy industry is that each successive generationof cows should be bigger and produce more milk. Climate change presents a challenge for thedairy industry and one response from milk suppliers has been to require farmers to completea carbon footprint, which I argue reproduces current and historic ideologies by its focus onproductivity. Imaginings of sustainable futures, I argue, also use ideas of productivity – but ofplants and soil being productive – cows often having no places in these futures because theyare seen as not‘natural’. I use speculative fiction to imagine what good futures for dairy cowscould look like.CVNaomi Hammett is a fourth year PhD candidate at Lancaster University in the Sociology department. Her research focus is on dairy farms in North West England and their response toclimate change and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a particular focus onthe narratives and practices relating to the lives and futures of cows. Naomi works predominantly within the field of Science and Technology Studies. She holds an MA in Environment,Society and Culture and a BA in History. She has had a previous career as a primary schoolteacher. Naomi can be contacted at: naomi.hammett@lancaster.ac.ukKEYWORDSCows, Climate Shange, Multispecies Research, STS, Queer Theory, Fat StudiesNaomi Hammett,“What Future for Queer Cows?”, insightOut. Journal on Gender andSexuality in STEM Collections and Cultures, 1(2023), 19–29, DOI: 10.60531/insightout.2023.1.4DOI: 10.60531/insightout.2023.1.4Published under license CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
