Gender and Animals in History

Overview & Synopsis

The category of species has remained largely understudied in mainstream gender scholarship. This edition of the Yearbook of Women’s History attempts to show how gender history can be enriched through the study of animals. It highlights that the inclusion of nonhuman animals in historical work has the potential to revolutionize the ways we think about gender history. This volume is expansive in more than one way. First, it is global and transhistorical in its outlook, bringing together perspectives from the Global North and the Global South, and moving from the Middle Ages to the contemporary world. Even more importantly for its purposes, a range of animals appear in the contributions: from the smallest insects to great apes, and from ‘cute’ kittens to riot dogs and lions. The articles collected here reflect the variety of the animal kingdom and of the creative approaches enabled by animal history.