| Canis Africanis: A Dog History of Southern Africa Contributor(s): Van Sittert, Lance (Author), Swart, Sandra (Author) |
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ISBN: 9004154191 ISBN-13: 9789004154193 Publisher: Brill OUR PRICE: $134.90 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2007 Annotation: The role of the dog in human society is the connecting thread that binds the essays in "Canis Africanis," each revealing a different part of the complex social history of southern Africa. The essays range widely from concerns over disease, bestiality, and social degradation through gambling on dogs to anxieties over social status reflected through breed classifications, and social rebellion through resisting the dog tax imposed by colonial authorities. With its focus on dogs in human history, this project is part of what has been termed the 'animal turn' in the social sciences, which investigates the spaces which animals inhabit in human society and the way in which animal and human lives interconnect, demonstrating how different human groups construct a range of identities for themselves (and for others) in terms of animals. So instead of conceiving of animals as merely constituents of ecological or agricultural systems, they can be comprehended through their role in human cultures. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Pets | Dogs - General - History | Europe - General - History | Modern - 18th Century |
| Dewey: 636.709 |
| Series: Human-Animal Studies |
| Physical Information: 0.63" H x 6.39" W x 9.42" (1.13 lbs) 295 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Southern Africa |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This suite of essays is a first for historical writing about southern Africa: they recover an animal's ubiquitous, yet hidden presence in human history. The authors have used the dog as a way "to think about human society". The dog is the connecting thread binding these essays, which each reveals a different part of the complex social history of southern Africa. The essays range widely from concerns over disease, bestiality, and social degradation through greyhound gambling, to anxieties over social status reflected through breed classifications, to social rebellion through resistance to the dog tax imposed by colonial authorities. With its focus on dogs in human history, this project is part of what has been termed the 'animal turn' in the social sciences, which investigates the spaces which animals inhabit in human society and the way in which animal and human lives interconnect. |