Meat, Mercy, Morality

Animals and Humanitarianism in Colonial Bengal, 1850-1920
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-0-19-012913-2
Verlag: Hurst & Co.

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 149 mm x 223 mm, Gewicht: 404 g

This book disentangles complex discourses around humanitarianism to understand the nature of British colonialism in India. It contends that the colonial project of animal protection in late nineteenth-century Bengal mirrored an irony. Emerging notions of public health and debates on cruelty against animals exposed the disjunction between the claims of a benevolent Empire and a powerful imperial reality where the state constantly sought to discipline its subjects-both human and nonhuman. Centered around stories of animals as diseased, eaten, and overworked, the
book shows how such contests over appropriate measures for controlling animals became part of wider discussions surrounding environmental ethics, diet, sanitation, and the politics of race and class. The author
combines history with archive, arguing that colonial humanitarianism was not only an idiom of rule, but was also translated into Bengali dietetics, anxieties, vegetarianism, and vigilantism, the effect of which can be seen in
contemporary politics of animal slaughter in India.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Samanta, Samiparna

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Kolonialismus, Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Acknowledgements

- List of Legislations

- List of Tables and Figures

- Introduction: Writing Embodied Histories-Humans and Non-humans in Nature, Science, and Imperialism

- 1. Historicizing Humanitarianism in Colonial India

- 2. The Politics of Care: Veterinarians and Humanitarians

- 3. Meat: To Eat or Not to Eat?

- 4. The Anomaly of 'Animal': Unburdening the Beast

- Conclusion: Liminal Boundaries, Colonial Ironies

- Glossary

- Bibliography

- Index

- About the Author

Über Autor(innen)

Samiparna Samanta is an Associate Professor of History at Jindal Global Law School, O. P Jindal Global University (JGU), India.