Jackasses for India! (Mules and Zebrules, too): Mapping Empire through Animal Breeding and Animal Labor

• In Event: 57. Power, People, and Animals in Asia, Part 1 of 3

Abstract

In the wake of the 2nd Afghan War and the death of some 50,000 camels, leaders of the British Indian Army determined that army transport should be based on a more reliable animal; in this case the mule. Unfortunately, mule-breeding in India was rare. This paper explores the global procurement efforts of the Army to acquire donkey jacks for breeding mules in India and to tap mule markets in North and South America, East Asia, and the Middle East. Both operations – breeding and procuring, required specialized knowledge of animal qualities, breeding practices, commercial animal exchanges, international long-distance shipping and marine insurers, as well as the best ways to move animals over long distances without great losses in numbers. The organization of a global apparatus for trafficking in animals ran parallel with the production of useful knowledge about how to sustain the flow of healthy, productive transport animal laborers into the Indian Army. The apparatus also attracted and drew into itself, the vast breeding system of Great Britain, where both experts in producing traits in animals for specific environments were complimented by those experimenting with mixing animals from colonies with European stock to produce wholly new animals like the zebrule (donkey-zebra). The paper will conclude with a discussion of how a consideration of animal labor might challenge dominant paradigms in animal, colonial, and globalization studies.

Author

• James L. Hevia, University of Chicago