Stocksman's Shadow: Ethics and Symbolism in the Yorkshire Dales

I have two core and two supplementary aims. The first is to convert my PhD dissertation into a monograph. My PhD examiners were clear in their Reports that it is ready for publication almost as is. My external examiner, Prof. Nigel Rapport, wrote: 'This is perhaps the most 'finished' thesis that I have had the pleasure of examining: the PhD that is closest to the form of a published book' (Rapport 2024: 5). My internal examiner, Prof. Matei Candea, meanwhile, wrote: 'This is an extraordinarily effective PhD thesis, one of the most innovative and beautiful instances of anthropological writing I have read in a very long time, published works included… The quality of the writing is such that much of the thesis feels like it would be publishable roughly as is' (Candea 2024: 1-2). Both examiners have offered to guide me through the process of publishing. A prospective publisher might be Cambridge University Press.

While my examiners think that the dissertation is close to publication standard, they identified areas in which it might also be improved. My first aim is to make these improvements. My proposed mentor, Prof. Christos Lynteris, is expertly placed to guide me through this process. He has an exemplary publication record and, through his work on the spread of disease between humans and animals, is a discipline-leader in my core literatures (the anthropology of the environment, human-animal relations, and multi-species ethnography). Further, the Department of Social Anthropology in St Andrews has a strong tradition in the anthropology of Britain, my regional specialism, and would, therefore, provide the perfect environment to support me as I turn my PhD from a dissertation into a monograph of real scholarly value.

My second core aim is to secure funding for a 3-year postdoctoral project, hosted in the Department of Anthropology at St Andrews. Working in collaboration with Prof. Lynteris, I will target the 2025 early-career research competitions (ESRC; Leverhulme; and Wellcome Trust, specifically). My new research project builds directly on my PhD research. It will be focused on the UK's 2001 Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak and its long-term impact on the hill farming community of Cumbria. The 2001 outbreak was one of the worst on record and led to the deaths of more than six-million farm animals. The long-term impact it had on those who farmed those animals, however, was impossible to quantify. By bringing anthropological theories of affect and epizootics into conversation for the first time, my project will advance our understanding of the complex social life of FMD and, through ethnographic techniques, reveal how this long past epizootic continues to have a profound effect in the present.

The first of my supplementary aims is to present my work at two international conferences: the 'European Association of Social Anthropologists' annual conference and the 'American Association of Anthropologists' annual conference. By attending these two world-leading anthropological conferences, I will be able to disseminate my research, deliver papers, and network with other scholars. The second supplementary aim is to organise an academic workshop in St Andrews, focused on the human experience of animal diseases. I will invite researchers from across the international scholarly community to participate. The workshop will build on my research and provide a forum for intellectual exchange and will later result in the publication of an edited collection.