Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight (Yale Agrarian Studies Series)

This is an account of industrialized killing from a participant’s point of view. The author, political scientist Timothy Pachirat, was employed undercover for five months in a Great Plains slaughterhouse where 2,500 cattle were killed per day—one every twelve seconds. Working in the cooler as a liver hanger, in the chutes as a cattle driver, and on the kill floor as a food-safety quality-control worker, Pachirat experienced firsthand the realities of the work of killing in modern society. He uses those experiences to explore not only the slaughter industry but also how, as a society, we facilitate violent labor and hide away that which is too repugnant to contemplate. Through his vivid narrative and ethnographic approach, Pachirat brings to life massive, routine killing from the perspective of those who take part in it. He shows how surveillance and sequestration operate within the slaughterhouse and in its interactions with the community at large. He also considers how society is organized to distance and hide uncomfortable realities from view. With much to say about issues ranging from the sociology of violence and modern food production to animal rights and welfare, __Every Twelve Seconds__ is an important and disturbing work. The author was employed undercover for five months in a Great Plains slaughterhouse where 2,500 cattle were killed per day - one every twelve seconds. In this title, he uses those experiences to explore not only the slaughter industry but also how, as a society, we facilitate violent labour and hide away that which is too repugnant to contemplate. Hidden in plain sight The place where blood flows Kill floor "Es todo por hoy" One hundred thousand livers Killing at close range Control of quality Quality of control A politics of sight. The author relates his experiences working five months undercover at a slaughterhouse, and explores why society encourages this violent labor yet keeps the details of the work hidden