Insidious ignorance or burst of biophilia: cultural uses of educational farms in Norway

K. Bjørkdahl

Insidious ignorance or burst of biophilia: cultural uses of educational farms in Norway

In: Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

Author:

K. Bjørkdahl

K. Bjørkdahl The Ethics Programme and Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1116, Blindern, Norway; kristian.bjorkdahl@sum.uio.no

Search for other papers by K. Bjørkdahl in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 337–342

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086866731_057

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

In Oslo, Norway, a number of small farms are designated ‘educational farms’. In contrast to profitoriented farms, these institutions are specifically designed to address visitors, typically kindergartens, school classes, or families. These farms portray an image of farm life which – in Norway as well as in the rest of the Western world – is a thing of the past. While educational farms display a small-scale idyll, Norwegian agriculture has since the 1960s moved steadily towards an increasingly industrialised form of agriculture. This essay aims to interpret the sociological significance of this mismatch and to comment on its implications for the ethics of human-animal relations. I argue that by offering children idealised farms as ‘a window to agriculture’ we conceal and distort the actual origin of meat and other animal products. But if these farms promote ignorance of animal food production, they also provide the obvious benefit of close interaction with farm animals. I therefore ask: ‘Is a bit of self-imposed ignorance really so bad?’

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789086866731/BP000057.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086866731

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 30 Oct 2009

Subjects
- Life Sciences

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	105	30	7
Full Text Views	6	0	0
PDF Views & Downloads	4	1	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Insidious ignorance or burst of biophilia: cultural uses of educational farms in Norway

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics