Making Scents out of Changing Spatial Geographies: A Closer Look at the Animal–Human–Faecal Relationship

Abstract

The paper begins by examining changing animal geographies, specifically, in regard to animals within Western nations that have been regulated over the years as their smells, sounds and bodily presences have been deemed inappropriate. Closely coupled to these changing animal configurations is also our changing relationship with faecal matter. Manure, like animals, has become increasingly ‘out of place’ in the countryside, which has served to only exacerbate today's controversies over livestock odours. These respatialization trends are then set against the changing conception of ‘countryside’ and the creation of new ‘out theres’ to accommodate this fluid view of rural life. The paper concludes by suggesting strategies (informed by the aforementioned argument) for resolving controversies over agricultural odours.