Open spaces and dwelling places: being at home on hill farms in the Scottish borders

In this article, I highlight the spatial dimension of social life. I analyze the shepherding practice of "going around the hill," a practice central to sheep farming in the Scottish borderlands. I distinguish between, on the one hand, the more rationalized space of fields and the commoditized sheep raised in them, and, on the other hand, the wild but meaningful hills and the sheep living on them. Using Heidegger's concept of "dwelling/' I describe how, through the practice of going around the hill, sheep farming people in the Scottish borders create an attachment to the land that defines the farm, the farming way of life, and the historically formulated borders region as places in which they "feel at home/' Together these places comprise the spatial dimensions of locality and identity for sheep farmers,