Cattle and colonialism: an animal-centred history of southern Africa, 1652-1980s

Glover, M.J. (2021)

Doctoral Thesis

This thesis is a cattle-centred history of colonialism in southern Africa, principally from 1652 until the 1980s. It opts out of the conventional human-centred approach to historical scholarship. This thesis is located within the broader animal history genre but innovates in that cattle are presented as experiential, sentient subjects in a sustained way. It views colonialism from within an animal-centred paradigm. The thesis explores impacts of colonialism in southern Africa in terms of how colonialism impacted cattle as groups and as individuals. Its primary question is: what are some of the major impacts of colonialism on cattle’s experiences in southern Africa? It is a sustained investigation of how cattle were subjectively impacted by colonialism. Four major impacts of colonialism are isolated and investigated. These are oxen’s wagon labour, disease epidemics and veterinary and state responses to the epidemics, the development of industrial slaughterhouses, and the development of modern colonial cattle breeding regimes. The geographical scope is regional, including present-day Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. The core finding is that colonialism had transformative impacts on cattle history and cattle’s experiences in the region.

• Cattle
• Animal history
• Animal-centred
• Southern Africa
• Sentience
• Experiential subjects

• All authors: Glover, M.J.
• Supervisor: Gewald, J.B.; Phimister, I.
• Co-supervisor: Wels, H.
• Committee: Dekker, M.; Swart, S.; Foster, C.; Schrikker, A.F.; Money, D.J.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden University Institute for History, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2021-11-23
• Sponsorship: Oppenheimer Memorial Trust; International Studies Group, University of the Free State; Zuid-Afrikahuis; Jonathan Glover