“This Land Is Good for This Animal”: a Methodology To
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“THIS LAND IS GOOD FOR THIS ANIMAL”: A METHODOLOGY TO SEE THE KNOWLEDGE DYNAMICS COMMUNICATED AMONG SARDO-MODICANA BREEDERS IN A TIME OF SCIENTIFIC UNCERTAINTY AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROBABILITIES By Cynthia Vagnetti A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Rhetoric and Writing 2012 ABSTRACT “THIS LAND IS GOOD FOR THIS ANIMAL”: A METHODOLOGY TO SEE THE KNOWLEDGE DYNAMICS COMMUNICATED AMONG SARDO-MODICANA BREEDERS IN A TIME OF SCIENTIFIC UNCERTAINTY AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROBABILITIES By Cynthia Vagnetti For this dissertation, I designed and conducted qualitative research adhering to an ethno- graphic approach that builds on the notion of culture as narrative. This study will contribute to the growing literature addressing how visual data can be applied in narrative inquiry. One of the challenges for researchers and practitioners in rural development is getting at sensory or embodied knowledge so that it can be made conscious and represented through language. Interdisciplinary investigations that align rural conservation studies with language-based fields are gaining interest among policy makers and funding institutions. This dissertation provides evidence that a documentary video toolkit enlarges an emic perspective of situated practices, grounded in local knowledge, that necessarily serves the interests of scientific re- search. Specifically when focusing through the lens of a camera, attention can be directed to- wards tacit knowledge or specifically, “the practices that exists in people’s hands and in their actions.” For this dissertation, I am seeking the knowledge dynamics communicated among Sardo-Modicana breeders, whose livelihood depends on the well-being of this rare and en- dangered breed of cattle. From this study, a narrative account was crafted from the stories of six individuals that draw from a pool of knowledge that has been passed down over genera- tions and has remained stable for nearly 150 years. A burgeoning market economy for grain was the exigency leading to innovation: the Sardo-Modicana was bred for traction in the 1880s, to cultivate wheat and carry it to the market-place. Today, men still draw the cow’s milk by hand, while the women continue to produce an artisanal cheese for family and local consumption. The traditional production system maintained through intergenerational animal husbandry practices became the source of innovation for the breeders in the 21st century. In 2001 a “code of practice” indicating a formal discipline specifying new fattening procedures how the animal was drawn up in the document, “The Discipline of Production for the Protected Geographic Indicator (I.G.P. in Italian): Il Bue Rosso Del Montiferru.” While this document acts as a network of communication that makes affordances for both “farmer know-how” and the “schooled knowledge” by technical or scientific experts, it necessarily acts on the age-old livelihood practices of the Sardo-Modicana breeders. The protected geo- graphical indications (P.G.I. in English)” is intended to fulfill the goal to conserve and to sup- port traditional resources and protect farmers’ rights and their impact on the preservation of indigenous species and traditional and local knowledge. This is a story of how each of the breeders make sense of their world as they attempt to maintain or change cultural patterns, during a time of rapid changes in agriculture, the environment and market-driven demands. Copyright by CYNTHIA VAGNETTI 2012 iv This work is dedicated to my parents, Mary Jane Foltting and John David Vagnetti, Sr. and in the memory of my paternal grandmother, Pasqualina Vagnetti. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work grows out my love for finding a good story to document in black and white still photography or documentary video. I have, through the lens of a camera, drawn the real world closer to me, while unwittingly collecting valuable data every time I press the shutter button on my camera. Now, thanks to the following people, I can make meaning from the data I collect. I want to thank my advisor, Jeff Grabill, for showing me how to understand and successfully apply grounded theory; Julie Lindquist who shared with me the pleasure of submerging oneself in the messy world of data; Danielle Nicole DeVoss who never stopped providing me with ways to clarify my work as it evolved; and to Stuart Blythe who gave me the last shove into the world of rhetoric and professional communication. This is where I belong and identify my research and scholarship, and I am grateful for your support and patience! There are others who believed in my work and they are Robert Vagnetti; Pat Vagnetti; Judith Reiter; John, Julia and Elisa Brabenec; Randy Gilmore; Kurt Boose; Daniele Tosarelli; Tina Aquirre and Aida Bessega; Kathy Teachout; Jane Bush; Julia Seng; Paul and Diane Thompson; John David Vagnetti, Jr.; Harriet Skidder and Dory; my writing group, Dr. Mary Wendt and Dr. Shreelina Gosh; and mentor, Dr. Roberto Scotti. With the support of their time, energy and generous hospitality the following people were co-creators in this work: Salvatore Porcheddu; Maddelena Denti; Rosella Luchesu; Tonino Mallai; Cristina Lucchesu; Gabriele Zucca; Loredona Muscas; Antonio Maria Cubeddu; Antonio Ponti; Francescu Cubeddu; Celestino and Geuseppina Illotto; Giovanni Mastinu and Piera Cubadda; Anna Maria, Luigi, Maria Antonietta, and Gloria Orro; Paolo Serru and his wife Pinuccia; Rita and Pinnucia Cubedda; Maria Luisa Madau as well as all the people of Seneghe who, like I, want the Sardo-Modicana well. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1 Literature Review.......................................................................................................................1 1.1 A Learner’s Proem..........................................................................................................1 1.2 Questions Guiding my Journey......................................................................................3 1.3 A Personal Experience with Distributed Cognition........................................................3 1.4 Leaving my Homeland: the Learner’s Journey.............................................................. 5 1.5 Leaving the Homeland: A Scholastic Journey................................................................8 1.5.1 Situating Myself in the Field of Rhetoric and Professional Communication.......10 1.5.2 Theories of Communication................................................................................. 10 1.5.3 Humanistic Reform in Professional Communication Research...........................12 1.5.4 Professional Communication Work in Communities and Cultures......................19 1.5.5 Professional Communication work in Communities and Culture........................21 1.5.6 Bodies, “Know-How” and Communication......................................................... 25 1.6 Walking with the Sardo-Modicana Breeders................................................................27 CHAPTER 2 The Landscape Tells a Story.................................................................................................... 30 2.1 Looking for Sardinia.................................................................................................... 30 2.2 Constructing the Past from the Stories I Heard............................................................32 2.3 Constructing the Past: Sardinia’s Nuragic Culture.......................................................34 2.4 Constructing the Past: Sardinia’s Agricultural and Pastoral Economy........................36 2.5 Constructing the Past: Sardinia’s Failed Policies and Geographic Isolation...............37 2.6 Constructing the Past: Sardinia’s Montiferru Territory and the Sardo-Modicana........40 2.7 Envisioning the Future: Montiferru and the EU Common Agricultural Policy...........46 2.8 Scientific Uncertainty, Text and “Il Bue Rosso”..........................................................52 CHAPTER 3 Methodology and the Becoming of a Text...............................................................................58 3.1 Qualitative Research Adhering to an Ethnographic Approach ....................................58 3.2 Methodology: Theories Guiding this Ethnographic Study in Narrative Inquiry..........59 3.3 Methodology: Approaches Guiding this Ethnographic Study in Narrative Inquiry.....62 3.4 The Study Plan ............................................................................................................ 69 3.4.1 Tools and Approaches for the Study Plan.............................................................71 3.4.2 Summary of the Study Plan..................................................................................73 3.5 Entry Into the Project Site and Enculturalation............................................................75 3.6 Preparation of Data for Analysis and Interpretation ....................................................80 3.6.1 Accounting for Themes: First Level Coding Categories...................................... 81 3.6.2 Accounting for Themes: Second Level Coding Categories..................................82 CHAPTER 4 Communication Dynamics of the Sardo-Modicana Breeder’s Knowledge.............................90