Gettin’ Show Ready in the Livestock Barn: Refusing Neoliberalism Through Multispecies Kinships

• In Event: The Productive (In)actions of Do-Nothing Literacies

Abstract

Focusing on embodied literacies (Author 3, xxxx; Jones, 2013; Enriquez et.al., 2015) that refuse the demands of neoliberalism, this paper explores multispecies kinships between youth and animals during livestock showing events. While more traditional education systems often prioritize efficiency, competition, and individual success, these young people engage in moments of stillness and attentiveness while caring for animals—practices that disrupt the urgency of productivity culture. While getting livestock “show ready”—feeding, cleaning, clipping, observing—their bodies (both youth and livestock) engage in rhythms that foster patience, mindfulness, and kindness, qualities that stand in stark contrast to the neoliberal emphasis on constant action and measurable output (Harvey, 2005).

Thinking-with (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012) O'Dell (2019) concept of doing nothing as a move away from neoliberal logics, this paper analyzes observations, informal conversations, and fieldnotes to argue that these young people briefly refuse the neoliberal pressures for constant productivity by embracing moments of slowness and reflection while getting ready for livestock shows. Conceptually, I draw on embodied literacies (Author 3, xxxx; Jones, 2013; Enriquez et.al., 2015) to explore how practices grounded in attentiveness to the animals' needs cultivate deep care, empathy, and connection within the show barn. The work these youth do in the barns becomes a form of refusal, focusing not solely on efficiency, but on relationality. Nurturing practices that are grounded in multispecies relations, offers a crucial counterpoint to the embodied demands of neoliberalism and serve as an alternative to neoliberal childhoods (Author 3, xxxx). This paper suggests that multispecies kinships provide insights to an alternative approach to literacies—one that fosters patience, kindness, slowness, and empathy—in ways that are essential for reimagining education in the neoliberal age.

Author

• Jaye Johnson Thiel, University of Alabama