Byproductive limits and bits of animal life

Oliver, Catherine and Dickinson, Hannah (2024) Byproductive limits and bits of animal life. Scottish Geographical Journal. ISSN 1470-2541

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that animal geography should extend its limits and analyses to the fragmented ‘byproducts’ and ‘bits of life’ that are made from animals. In so doing, we argue that a ‘byproductive lens’ is vital to an animal geography in the face of multiple and overlapping ecological crises. The paper opens by theorising byproductive animals and bits of life as increasingly important in the context of emerging biotechnologies. Drawing on our work with shrimp and chickens, we look at how animal byproducts (shells and eggs, respectively) are being put to work, remediated and rendered for pharmaceuticals, biomaterials and other novel industrial purposes. In doing so, we explore the limits of animal geographies through a byproductive lens, to argue that these animal derivatives are bits of life embroiled in bioeconomies, biocapital and biopolitics. We conclude by arguing that byproductive animal geographies offer generative insights for scholars interested in expanding the remit of animal geography’s engagements with scale and ethics, and for scholars engaging with animals across the social sciences.