No cotidiano do abate : percepções e afetos na relação entre homens e bovinos

Abstract

The meat and the uncountable products of cattle’s slaughter are part of most people’s quotidian, nonetheless, these remain almost always dissociated from their origin: the death of an animal. Less evident than the relations of market consumption; the interactions among humans and cattle that are constructed on their daily life isolated from the slaughterhouses occur far from the consumers' senses and these relations are still little approached in the areas of Human and Social Sciences. The physical and symbolic isolation strategies done by the industry and its stakeholders are consciously or unconsciously validated by their beneficiaries have contributed to the maintenance of discourses, such as the prioritization of animal welfare through humane slaughter practices and reliability of the meat based on sanitized and smoothed image of the productive processes. The investigation of this reality counted on the theoretical contribution of Everyday Sociology, as well as, contributions of other areas such as: Anthropology and Psychology. Field observation and semi-structured interviews with workers from the slaughter line of a medium size slaughterhouse in Mato Grosso were carried out. Based on the findings, it was described in what way the studied species relate in this scenery, and how humans allow the construction of affections and construct meanings for humanity, animality, death and life.