Centering Animals in Latin American History writes animals back into the history of colonial and postcolonial Latin America. This collection reveals how interactions between humans and other animals have significantly shaped narratives of Latin American histories and cultures. The contributors work through the methodological implications of centering animals within historical narratives, seeking to include nonhuman animals as social actors in the histories of Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina. The essays discuss topics ranging from canine baptisms, weddings, and funerals in Bourbon Mexico to imported monkeys used in medical experimentation in Puerto Rico. Some contributors examine the role of animals in colonization efforts. Others explore the relationship between animals, medicine, and health. Finally, essays on the postcolonial period focus on the politics of hunting, the commodification of animals and animal parts, the protection of animals and the environment, and political symbolism.
Contributors. Neel Ahuja, Lauren Derby, Regina Horta Duarte, Martha Few, Erica Fudge, León García Garagarza, Reinaldo Funes Monzote, Heather L. McCrea, John Soluri, Zeb Tortorici, Adam Warren, Neil L. Whitehead

Foreword / Erica Fudge ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction. Writing Animal Histories / Zeb Tortorici and Martha Few 1

Part I. Animals, Culture, and Colonialism

1. The Year the People Turned into Cattle: The End of the World in New Spain, 1558 / León García Garagarza 31

2. Killing Locusts in Colonial Guatemala / Martha Few 62

3. "In the Name of the Father and the Mother of All Dogs": Canine Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals in Bourbon Mexico / Zeb Tortorici 93

Part II. Animals and Medicine, Science, and Public Health

4. From Natural History to Popular Remedy: Animals and Their Medicinal Applications among the Kallawaya in Colonial Peru / Adam Warren 123

5. Pest to Vector: Disease, Public Health, and the Challenges of State-Building in Yucatán, Mexico, 1833-1922 / Heather McCrea 149

6. Notes on Medicine, Culture, and the History of Imported Monkeys in Puerto Rico / Neel Ahuja 180

Part III. The Meanings and Politics of Postcolonial Animals

7. Animal Labor and Protection in Cuba: Changes in Relationships with Animals in the Nineteenth Century / Reinaldo Funes Monzete (translated by Alex Hildago and Zeb Tortorici) 209

8. On Edge: Fur Seals and Hunters along the Patagonian Littoral, 1860–1930 / John Soluri 243

9. Birds and Scientists in Brazil: In Search of Protection, 1894–1938 / Regina Horta Duarte (translated by Zeb Tortorici and Roger Arthur Cough) 270

10. Trujillo, the Goat: Of Beasts, Men, and Politics in the Dominican Republic / Lauren Derby 302

Conclusion. Loving, Being, Killing Animals / Neil L. Whitehead 329

Recommended Bibliography 347

Contributors 357

Index 361

Martha Few and Zeb Tortorici, eds.