Calculating nature: the case of badgers, bovine tuberculosis and cattle

The aim of the paper is to examine the governmentalities associated with attempts to manage nature. In particular, it assesses the role that numbers have played in rural governance. Numbers are seen as an important tool of modern government. However, like other aspects of science, their use in governing nature has been contested by other epistemologies. Drawing upon efforts to regulate the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, the paper firstly examines how numbers have been used in this policy debate. Secondly, the paper outlines three epistemologies of nature — nature as numbers, nature as known and ecological nature — which have been employed in contesting government policy. Finally the paper concludes by analysing the interactions of these knowledges of nature and considering the voice of the badger in these constructions of its identity.