NatureCultures of Milk

Do cows cause climate change? Does milk cause cancer? Why do we find cheese made from human breast milk revolting but love to eat cheese made from cow’s milk? Can men lactate? Who produces milk substitutes made from soy, rice, almonds? Where does the milk surplus of EU productions go? How do societies change when their milk consumption changes? How do cows live? How would cows like to live? Is dairy for strong bodies and for strong minds? Why are milk sops weaklings? Does milk matter? As such questions suggest the topic of milk evokes various academic and non-academic discourses and practices of knowledge. Issues around milk relate to health as well as to agrobusiness and postcoloniality; they concern animal welfare, sustainability, cultural representation as well as gender and species justice. The colloquium discusses practices of knowledge and chains of agency from diverse trans/disciplinary angles, aiming to promote a paradigm change from an anthropocentric to a multispecies perspective that recognizes the resilience as well as individual and interactive dynamics of all biological, socio-technical and cultural processes. This way the traditional nature/culture divide can be questioned from a transdisciplinary vantage point.