Cruelty Contested: The British, Bengalis, and Animals in Colonial Bengal, 1850-1920
This dissertation evaluates the nature of cross-cultural interface between the British and the Bengalis in nineteenth and twentieth-century Bengal as studied through the lens of animal cruelty. My project analyzes how discourses of cruelty against domestic animals - in veterinary, dietary, and trans...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-5953 |
| Summary: | This dissertation evaluates the nature of cross-cultural interface between the British and the Bengalis in nineteenth and twentieth-century Bengal as studied through the lens of animal cruelty. My project analyzes how discourses of cruelty against domestic animals - in veterinary, dietary, and transport registers - became a ground on which the ethics of colonial relations were worked out in Bengal between 1850 and 1920. By investigating the activities of the Calcutta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, examining court cases against animals, and studying Bengali voices, I argue that late 19th and early 20th century debates concerning animals betrayed less protectionism, but reflected in microcosm the existing class distinctions and race anxieties. I further demonstrate that the colonial project of animal protection mirrored an irony in that it exposed the disjunction between the claims of a benevolent colonial state and a powerful, not-too- benign reality in which the colonial state constantly sought to control, subjugate and discipline its subjects--human and non-human. In short, I intend to use the lens of animal cruelty to write a social history of colonial Calcutta as expressed through some human-animal encounters like epizootics, vegetarianism, and carter strikes. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy. === Summer Semester, 2012. === June 28, 2012. === Includes bibliographical references. === Frederick R. Davis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen Erndl, University Representative; Claudia Liebeskind, Committee Member; Will Hanley, Committee Member; Charles Upchurch, Committee Member. |
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