Beast Mode

Livestock and the Architecture of Biopower

As an infrastructure, the livestock sector is a necessary spatial and sociotechnical system upon which society depends, yet rarely thinks about. The physical and symbolic concealment of animal production and slaughter is necessary in order to maintain its speed, scale and efficiency. Beast Mode: Livestock and the Architecture of Biopower challenges this paradigm by describing and visualizing the infrastructural and architectural manifestations of livestock and poultry production in the United States. The project combines scientific, historical, ecological and cartographic evidence to construct a critical visual inquiry into the built environment of animal agriculture at multiple scales and across several species. Textual analysis combined with maps, diagrams and visualizations expands upon recent scholarship examining landscape infrastructure, logistics and the architecture of biopower.

In making visible the concealed spatial techniques and technologies of contemporary animal agriculture, the book highlights the extent to which our collective appetite for meat, eggs and dairy shapes cities, regions and ecosystems as well as the human and non-human animals residing therein.

Currently in contract with Routledge Press with an anticipated completion date of May 2024.