The Inhuman Empire: Wildlife, Colonialism, Culture (Empire and the Making of the Modern World, 1650-2000)

This book is a study of selected texts of British writings on Indian wildlife published between 1860 and 1960. Set in the context of British colonial rule in India, this book also reflects on similar situations across the British Empire and other colonial empires. The destruction of wildlife in the making of empires is a subject not yet fully explored in scholarship. This book aims to speak to global concerns regarding the extinction of several species and shows that the crisis has international roots. The Inhuman Empire breaks new grounds as it juxtaposes colonial narratives to folk narratives. These two types of narratives treat nonhuman animals very differently – folk narrative considers them sentient beings, while colonial narratives see them as ‘game’ and do not care for their sentience. Both types of narratives are further evaluated with reference to the contemporary position of natural sciences regarding animal sentience and of anthropologists and philosophers regarding the relationship between nature and culture. Analyzing colonial accounts of hunting, the author looks at the pain and suffering of nonhuman animals and combines statistics alongside narratives of British writers, Indian populace and nonhuman animals in order to show narratives' reflect and impact reality. This book will be of great value to those interested in Animal Studies, Folkloristics, the history of Colonialism and India. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Narrative Grip Human and Nonhuman Animals in Folk Narrative Sentience and Nonhuman Animals What Happened to Them? British Writings on Indian Fauna Note Works Cited Chapter 1: The Hunted, Their Witnesses and the Hunters’ Narratives: Major Henry Shakespear’s The Wild Sports of India (1860, 1862) and Captain James Forsyth’s The Highlands of Central India (1889) Henry Shakespear: Out to Kill James Forsyth: Making Them Suffer Works Cited Chapter 2: The Majestic Elephant Meets the Government of Her Majesty: G. P. Sanderson’s Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India (1878) Rocking the Life of Elephants Thinning the Wildlife Works Cited Chapter 3: The Multispecies World of Indian Householders: John Lockwood Kipling’s Beast and Man in India (1991) Beings and Beliefs Animals in Artistic Abstraction Reality and Ethnography Notes Works Cited Chapter 4: The Tiger Obsession: Henry Shakespear, James Forsyth, George Sanderson, J. C. Fife-Cookson Tiger – The Trophy Hunter – The Average A Small Detail Works Cited Chapter 5: The Tiger Grips the Narrator: Jim Corbett’s Many Books Tiger – The Gentleman The Hunter and The Man-eater Tiger, Corbett and Himalayas Jim Corbett – An Indian? Notes Works Cited Chapter 6: The Narrative Warfare Facts and Figures Tigers of the Narratives Animals in Colonial Trap History Writing and Folk Narrative The Three Ps British Narratives and Theriocide Folk Narrative and Anthropomorphism Colonialism and Wild Nonhuman Animals Works Cited Chapter 7: To New Narratives Works Cited Bibliography Primary Literature Secondary Literature Internet Resources Index This book is a study of selected texts of British writings on Indian wildlife published between 1860 and 1960.Set in the context of British colonial rule in India, this book also reflects on similar situations across the British Empire and other colonial empires. The destruction of wildlife in the making of empires is a subject not yet fully explored in scholarship. This book aims to speak to global concerns regarding the extinction of several species and shows that the crisis has international roots. The Inhuman Empire breaks new grounds as it juxtaposes colonial narratives to folk narratives. These two types of narratives treat nonhuman animals very differently – folk narrative considers them sentient beings, while colonial narratives see them as ‘game'and do not care for their sentience. Both types of narratives are further evaluated with reference to the contemporary position of natural sciences regarding animal sentience and of anthropologists and philosophers regarding the relationship between nature and culture. Analyzing colonial accounts of hunting, the author looks at the pain and suffering of nonhuman animals and combines statistics alongside narratives of British writers, Indian populace and nonhuman animals in order to show narratives'reflect and impact reality.This book will be of great value to those interested in Animal Studies, Folkloristics, the history of Colonialism and India.Sign up here for the table talk on Sadhana Naithani's book: Indian Animal Studies Collective | Table Talk Ep 37 (mailchi.mp)