Ripensare la bioeconomia con le pecore: le vie agro-ecologiche della transumanza oggi

In this chapter, we propose to rethink the notion of mainstream, industrial bioeconomy by examining transhumance, which has recently been declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. Transhumance is often seen as a marginal practice associated with the past and tradition and taking place primarily in the Global South. Yet, why is it then still practiced in the Global North? Answering, at least in part, this question allows us to begin to understand how transhumance provides a useful terrain to propose a critique of the (industrial) bioeconomy. The chapter is structured in three sections. First, we introduce the practice of transhumance to highlight how it is a way of raising livestock that the social sciences have long tended to overlook, particularly in the Global North. Second, we attempt to discuss one of the reasons why transhumance is an agro-pastoral practice which is resilient in the Global North, showing how for shepherds it may represent a different and fulfilling way of life. In the third section, we turn to the research of French sociologist Jocelyne Porcher who draws on Mauss’ thought to conceptualise how animal husbandry – understood in opposition to intensive agriculture’s animal production – is an ethical way of living with animals. Finally, we propose a rethinking of mainstream, industrial bioeconomy through the language of Mauss who sees the gift as the ‘glue’ of societies and, by building on J.K. Gibson-Graham’s critique of capitalism, we propose the novel notion of the ‘diverse bioeconomy’, which better captures Georgescu-Roegen’s original meaning of bioeconomics and critique to the myth of growth.