Call for papers: International Workshop - "Cattle Commodification in Global History: Capitalism, Science and Empire"
In recent years, the history of livestock and livestock commodities has attracted increasing attention, partly due to the animal turn, the increasing popularity of environmental history and commodity history, and the intertwined ecological and climate crises that are unfolding. Focusing on cattle (or bos taurus and bos indicus), perhaps the most emblematic livestock species, this international workshop wants to take stock of recent historiographical developments and push towards a first synthesis that thinks together the various dimensions of cattle commodification from a global history perspective.
The workshop, on the one hand, addresses the broad historical processes such as capitalist and imperial expansion and changing knowledge regimes that, since ca. 1500 CE, transformed cattle production and integrated cattle (commodities) in global, imperial, regional and local economies. Arguably, such processes played out in uneven ways across the globe, giving rise to different trajectories and timelines. On the other, the workshop conceives cattle commodification as a series of partly overlapping processes that transform living animals into profitable commodities. It hence wants to analyse why, how and with what consequences, in varying historical and geographical settings, cattle bodies were ‘improved’, new forms and techniques of animal husbandry introduced, and living cattle further commodified into beef, hides/leather, milk, tallow, corns or manure. These commodification processes involved a broad range of actors, such as (agro)pastoralists and cattle ranchers, veterinary scientists and state officials, capitalist entrepreneurs and international organizations. Their interactions transformed pre-existing cattle economies, knowledge regimes and local ecologies, but also led to the introduction of cattle in areas where they previously did not thrive.
If you want to participate, please e-mail your abstract of 200-300 words, accompanied by a short bionote (100-200 words) to cattlefrontiers@ugent.be by Friday 23 January 2026. We will notify you about the outcome of our selection process by 15 February 2026 the latest. If your paper is accepted, we will then ask you to submit a draft paper of approx. 5,000-6,000 words (not counting footnotes and bibliography) by 15 May 2026.