Imperial Creatures: Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore, 1819-1942

by Timothy P. Barnard

One of the areas of fastest-growing interest in the humanities and social sciences in recent years has been the history of animals. Imperial Creatures fills a gap in that field by looking across species at animals in a urban colonial setting. If imperialism is a series of power relationships, Timothy P. Barnard argues, then it necessarily involves not only the subjugation of human communities, but also of animals. What was the relationship between those two processes in colonial Singapore? How did interactions with animals enable changes in interactions between people?

Through a multidisciplinary consideration of fauna, Imperial Creatures weaves together a series of tales to document how animals were cherished, monitored, employed, and slaughtered in a colonial society. All animals, including humans, Barnard shows, have been creatures of imperialism in Singapore. Their stories teach us lessons about the structures that upheld such a society and how it developed over time, lessons of relevance to animal historians, to historians of Singapore, and to urban historians and imperial historians with an interest in environmental themes.

336 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2019

Reviews

[Xiaoyun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it. For a history buff and an environmental studies major this was right up my alley. I think often about how we treat animals and other nonhuman beings that share this world with us, and this well researched book about how these relationships used to and have come to be ossified over 100+ years of colonial rule was super insightful. I think this is a long overdue piece, and the weaving of class, race, power, status within the analysis (to understanding how the colony dealt with hydrophobia, or animal entertainment, or animals that were simply inconvenient to colonial settlement) makes this work relevant even today. In fact the portions about quarantine regimes with the introduction of rabies (and later the fear of the bubonic plaque) felt strange because of its distance in history but also strange cos of how I can understand it.

[mimo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As well-researched as it is well-written. I recognised some of the facts and stories that Barnard recounts, but others, I had no idea were part of Singapore's history with animals, at least not to such extents. The overarching ideas of imperialism, discipline and violence give me much to think about. I also appreciate the attention to matters of class and race.