'We Cows are in a Very Serious Predicament': Constructions of Land Girls and Cattle in Britain in the Second World War

Webb, Thomas, Summerfield, Penny, Riley, Mark ORCID: 0000-0002-3259-323X and Pearson, Chris ORCID: 0000-0002-0556-1929 (2022) 'We Cows are in a Very Serious Predicament': Constructions of Land Girls and Cattle in Britain in the Second World War. GENDER AND HISTORY, 34 (1). pp. 179-200.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12524

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This article addresses understandings of a novel wartime labour force, the Women's Land Army, and of the cattle that a large proportion of its members worked with, in Britain during and after the Second World War. It draws on official records, publicity material, print media, memoirs and oral histories for an analysis of the gendered dynamics of the wartime management of the dairy herd, focusing on cultural constructions and their contradictions. We argue that Land Girls were widely depicted as urban interlopers even though many came from rural backgrounds, while cattle were sometimes seen as representatives of rural resistance and sometimes as vehicles for personal transformation.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Land Girls, Dairy cattle, British farming, Gender dynamics, Second World War
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Feb 2021 14:40
Last Modified:	09 Sep 2023 11:27
DOI:	10.1111/1468-0424.12524
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3115864