Why read Colonizing Animals?

Book cover of Colonizing Animals

Book description

Animals were vital to the British colonization of Myanmar. In this pathbreaking history of British imperialism in Myanmar from the early nineteenth century to 1942, Jonathan Saha argues that animals were impacted and transformed by colonial subjugation. By examining the writings of Burmese nationalists and the experiences of subaltern groups,…

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Asian history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Colonizing Animals as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Shira Shmuely

Author

The newest publication on my list, this book offers future directions for researching the history of human-animal relations.

Arguing against the Eurocentrism of animal history, the book brings in multiple species into the historical inquiry of colonial Myanmar. Saha explores colonized people's interspecies relationships, with a particular emphasis on commodification processes.

I recommend the book to those who are interested not only in a captivating analysis, but also in a thought-provoking theoretical discussion about the intersection of animal studies and postcolonial scholarship.

From Shira's list on getting familiar with multispecies history.