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Identity [ Back to Altered Lifescapes ]The data shows disruption to place, occupation, family, education and culture and an articulation of the view that Cumbria was ‘too far away to matter’. There is a sense of new cultural identities appearing, such as "culled and unculled"; ‘front-line and office-based’. Above all there is the strong sense, (well known in disaster studies), that unless you were there, it is impossible to explain, and this gap in comprehension/empathy is a continuing sense of frustration. I try to explain what it was like to be here through last year but am still unable to articulate thoughts and feelings accurately. It is so hard to try to enable people who weren’t here to get a real grasp of it. The fear, the anger, the frustration. (Community, diary, 2002) ‘New FMD identities’ engendered black humour, as this respondent shows describing the signing of the guest book at a wedding in June 2001: . so we went to the Church do and then we went back to milk [...] and there were lots of Longtown folk there lost the lot and, when we got up to milk, they said ‘You mean you have got stock’, and everybody said how lucky we were to be able to go away in the middle of the wedding back to milk [...] Everybody had to sign a book to say who they were and they said ‘Why don’t we put our [FMD] case number next to our name?!’ [...] We had a good day, it was our first mixing amongst folks since February. (Farm, group meeting, 12/2001) A farmer whose stock survived and who did not leave his farm for 10 weeks during the epidemic, speaks of meeting with extended family in Christmas 2001: they didn’t get foot and mouth, [. . .] so the family party was the first meeting we had when nobody had foot and mouth. [. . .] .So we could have a good conversation without offending anybody, [. . .] Cause there wasn’t a foot and mouth victim sitting next to us, and we were just, you know, In some ways makin fun of them, ‘Oh look out here’s a foot and mouth victim coming, he’s got a new Range Rover!’ or this sort of thing like, and we could say that without actually offending anybody.[. . .]. (Farm, interview, 2002) The cultural importance of livestock auctions in Cumbria cannot be underestimated -for farmers the absence of auctions meant loss of social contact and a radical and complex change to trading, with animals going straight to slaughter often with no agreed final price. Farmers also report frustration and anger at perceived inefficient, bureaucratic and uncomprehending (sic) licensing arrangements. In the longer term, the re-stocking of farms has brought animal health problems and continued stress and reminders for farmers as they get used to new stock. Some report feeling less involved in their work, others say they over-react to problems among stock. [ Back to Altered Lifescapes ]
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