Statistically Modified Farming: The Spatial Politics in Scottish Farming Statistics
Open Access
- Author:
- Geddes, Alistair
- Graduate Program:
- Geography
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 10, 2005
- Committee Members:
- Cynthia Ann Brewer, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Deryck William Holdsworth, Committee Member
James P Mc Carthy, Committee Member
Leif Jensen, Committee Member
Roger Michael Downs, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Statistics
Spatial Politics
Scotland
Geography
Governmentality
Censuses
Farming - Abstract:
- This study is concerned with some of the statistical developments that have occurred in Scotland since the late eighteenth century, with a particular emphasis on developments related to Scottish agriculture. There are two main purposes to the study: (1) to add understanding of how both historical and contemporary developments in national statistics can be used to study Scottish farming changes; and (2), to show that those developments have involved a variety of “spatial politics”—some ongoing, others changeable—concerning why, how, when, and by whom and for whom national-scale statistics about Scottish farming have been created. Hence, the latter purpose supports the former. Discussion of a conceptual framework forms the first part of the study, centered on reviewing other relatively recent geographical studies of national statistics, particularly those that have attempted to apply and extend concepts from poststructuralist theorizing on governmentality. The second part of the analysis draws on the first and involves empirical analyses primarily of three statistical projects, all of which include statistics about Scottish farming conditions. One development is the Statistical Account of Scotland, conducted between 1790 and 1798, and significant as the first-ever geographically organized statistical survey of the modern nation. Examined next is a sequence of national agricultural surveys performed in the mid-1850s, these surveys being the first specifically about Scottish farming. The third development encompasses the consolidation of state data systems, focusing on the agricultural censuses conducted since 1866. More recent data systems have included those required in relation to the workings of European Community’s Common Agricultural Policy. These three developments are first analyzed individually, each providing a perspective on the spatial politics of statistical observation and their connections to knowledge and regulation. Finally, continuities and changes over the three developments are assessed and then discussed in relation to current data developments.