Nonhuman empires

Deb Roy, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6836-990X (2015) Nonhuman empires. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 35 (1). pp. 66-75. ISSN 1548-226X doi: 10.1215/1089201X-2876104

Abstract/Summary

The themed section “Nonhuman Empires” contributes to a critique of anthropocentrism in the field of imperial history. It reveals the variety of ways in which the historical trajectories of nonhuman animals and empires both intersected and informed one another. Beyond merely rehabilitating nonhuman themes in conversations about imperial history, it provides a platform for rethinking both nonhumans and empires as they are envisioned conventionally in the historiography. This introductory article begins by situating this special section as a conversation between science studies and animal studies, on the one hand, and the historiography of empires, on the other. It then suggests ways to reconceptualize agency, subjects, nonhumans, and empire by combining certain shared concerns of subaltern studies and actor-network theory. Finally, it emphasizes the need to integrate postcolonial critiques with emerging scholarship about the posthuman.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/48953
Identification Number/DOI	10.1215/1089201X-2876104
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > History
Publisher	Duke University Press
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