Animals and Human Society in Asia: Historical, Cultural and Ethical Perspectives

✍ Scribed by Rotem Kowner, Guy Bar-Oz, Michal Biran, Meir Shahar, Gideon Shelach-Lavi

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing;Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 458
• Series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series
• Edition: 1st ed. 2019
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This edited collection offers a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of human-animal interactions in Asia throughout history. With twelve thematically-arranged chapters, this book examines the diverse roles that beasts, livestock, and fish — real and metaphorical– have played in Asian history, society, and culture.

Ranging from prehistory to the present day, the authors address a wealth of topics including the domestication of animals, dietary practices and sacrifice, hunting, the use of animals in war, and the representation of animals in literature and art.

Providing a unique perspective on human interaction with the environment, the volume is cross-disciplinary in its reach, offering enriching insights to the fields of animal ethics, Asian studies, world history and more.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter ....Pages i-xxxvii
Animals and Human Society in Asia: An Overview and Premises (Rotem Kowner, Guy Bar-Oz, Michal Biran, Meir Shahar, Gideon Shelach-Lavi)....Pages 1-29
Front Matter ....Pages 31-31
When Elephants Roamed Asia: The Significance of Proboscideans in Diet, Culture and Cosmology in Paleolithic Asia (Ran Barkai)....Pages 33-62
Hunting to Herding to Trading to Warfare: A Chronology of Animal Exploitation in the Negev (Steven A. Rosen)....Pages 63-92
Domestication of the Donkey (Equus asinus) in the Southern Levant: Archaeozoology, Iconography and Economy (Ianir Milevski, Liora Kolska Horwitz)....Pages 93-148
Front Matter ....Pages 149-149
Spilling Blood: Conflict and Culture over Animal Slaughter in Mongol Eurasia (Timothy May)....Pages 151-177
China’s Dairy Century: Making, Drinking and Dreaming of Milk (Thomas David DuBois)....Pages 179-211
Tuna as an Economic Resource and Symbolic Capital in Japan’s “Imperialism of the Sea” (Nadin Heé)....Pages 213-238
Front Matter ....Pages 239-239
Elephants in Mongol History: From Military Obstacles to Symbols of Buddhist Power (William G. Clarence-Smith)....Pages 241-266
The Mamluk’s Best Friend: The Mounts of the Military Elite of Egypt and Syria in the Late Middle-Ages (Reuven Amitai, Gila Kahila Bar-Gal)....Pages 267-298
A Million Horses: Raising Government Horses in Early Ming China (Noa Grass)....Pages 299-328
Front Matter ....Pages 329-329
From Lion to Tiger: The Changing Buddhist Images of Apex Predators in Trans-Asian Contexts (Xing Zhang, Huaiyu Chen)....Pages 331-353
The Chinese Cult of the Horse King, Divine Protector of Equines (Meir Shahar)....Pages 355-390
Animal Signs: Theriomorphic Intercession Between Heaven and Imperial Mongolian History (Brian Baumann)....Pages 391-419
Correction to: The Mamluk’s Best Friend: The Mounts of the Military Elite of Egypt and Syria in the Late Middle-Ages (Reuven Amitai, Gila Kahila Bar-Gal)....Pages C1-C1
Back Matter ....Pages 421-433

✦ Subjects

Philosophy; Ethics; Social Philosophy; Philosophy of Nature; Animal Welfare/Animal Ethics