Human-Animal Interactions in Anthropocene Asia (Routledge Contemporary China Series)

273 Pages·2023·34.541 MB·English

by  Victor Teo (editor)

Human–Animal Interactions in
Anthropocene Asia
This book examines the theme of human–animal interactions contextualized
against the idea of the Anthropocene.
Focused on China and its immediate Asian borderlands, this interdiscipli-
nary collection provides a powerful and insightful analysis of the ecological
challenges that mankind’s traditional activities have created. Through
in-depth case studies, each focusing on a particular human–animal dynamic,
the book contextualizes and advances the understanding of existing environ-
mental and ecological problems faced by local communities in Asia. In par-
ticular, the book hopes to transcend the duality of the nature versus culture
debate by locating animal-ecological problems in the behavior of human
institutions, beliefs, and practices, which are often affected by prevailing cul-
tural proclivities, political ideologies, economic interests, and scientific agen-
das. Through interrogation of theoretical concepts of Anthropocene and
human–animal binary, the volume highlights the controversial debates that
follow their usage as well as their empirical utility understanding human–
animal interactions historically, thereby engaging a broader interdisciplinary
conversation increasingly links these two fields together.
Providing a platform for discussion and dialogue for a wide audience, this
book will appeal to students and scholars of environmental history and pol-
itics, anthropology, political science and policy studies, China studies, and
Asian studies more generally.
Victor Teo is a political scientist specializing in the International Relations
of the Indo-Pacific. He was most recently The Cold War Visiting Research
Fellow at CRASSH, University of Cambridge, UK; and Wang Gungwu
Visiting Senior Research Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.
Routledge Contemporary China Series
237 Chinese Regionalism in Asia
Beyond the belt-road initiative
Tiang Boon Hoo and Jared Morgan Mckinney
238 Sensing China
Modern transformations of sensory culture
Shengqing Wu and Xuelei Huang
239 Chinese Modernity and Socialist Feminist Theory
Song Shaopeng, edited by Sharon R. Wesoky
240 China’s Provinces Go Global
Internationalization under guided autonomy
Wiebke Antonia Rabe
241 Premarital Abortion in China
Intimacy, family and reproduction
Ruby Y.S. Lai
242 The Chinese Lifestyle
The reconfiguration of the middle class in contemporary China
Alfonso Sanchez Romera
243 Red Tourism in China
Commodification of propaganda
Chunfeng Lin
244 Human-Animal Interactions in Anthropocene Asia
Victor Teo
245 Deliberation with Chinese Characteristics
A tale of two chinese cities’ participatory budgeting experiences
Su Yun Woo
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Contemporary-China-Series/book-series/SE0768
Human–Animal Interactions in
Anthropocene Asia
Edited by Victor Teo
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Victor Teo; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Victor Teo to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Teo, Victor, editor.
Title: Human-animal interactions in Anthropocene Asia / edited by Victor
Teo.
Description: First edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2023. | Series: Routledge contemporary China series | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022044035 (print) | LCCN 2022044036 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032079219 (hbk) | ISBN 9781032079264 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003212089
(ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Human-animal relationships--Asia. | Human-animal
relationships--China. | Animals and civilization.
Classification: LCC QL85 .H8428 2023 (print) | LCC QL85 (ebook) | DDC
591.5095--dc23/eng/20221018
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022044035
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022044036
ISBN: 978-1-032-07921-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-07926-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-21208-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003212089
Typeset in Times New Roman
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
For my son Jason W. Teo
who so loves animals

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
List of Contributors xii
Acknowledgments xv
1 Human–Animal Interactions in Anthropocene Asia: Culture,
Development, and the Politics 1
VICTOR TEO
2 “Rearing the Rare”: History, Coexistence, and Contestation
of Wildlife Conservation in the Singalila National Park,
Darjeeling, India 52
SANGAY TAMANG
3 A Mongolian Muzzle in the Chinese Grasslands: The Shifting
Uses of the Camel in Nomadic Pastoralism and Festivities 71
AURORE DUMONT
4 Reindeer, Taiga, Ethnic Culture: State-Forced Resettlement
and the Changing Human–Animal Interactions in the Aoluguya
Ewenki Community 93
HANG LIN
5 Yak Dzongs in Sikkim Himalayas: Spaces of Conflict in
the Making 111
BHIM SUBBA
6 Turtles amid Healing and Extinction: International Relations
and Question of Animal Agency in the South China Sea Disputes 130
CARMINA YU UNTALAN
viii Contents
7 From Colonial Science to the Genome Age: The Politics of
Asian Giant Salamander Conservation 152
LISA YOSHIKAWA
8 The Destiny of China’s Honeybees in the Anthropocene 184
KEOKAM KRAISORAPHONG
9 Human–Animal Interface and Sociocultural Ecology of
Zoonotic Disease Outbreaks in Anthropocene China 207
SUNGWON YOON
10 Tiger Parks in Anthropocene China: Culture, Capitalism,
and the Limits of Conservation 226
VICTOR TEO
Index 251
Figures
1.1 A small statue of the Wind Lion God (风师爷) in Jinmen
Island, Taiwan 5
1.2 Vultures feeding at a Tibetan Skyburial Ceremony in China 6
1.3 The famous hotspring monkeys in Nagano, Japan 11
1.4 Crocodile as a delicacy in seafood restaurant in China 15
1.5 Taxidermized wildlife for sale in Kashgar, Xinjiang
Province, China 16
1.6 North Koreans tending to their fields with their cows in
North Hamgyong Province, DPRK 18
1.7 Land Mine Clearing Rat taking a break in Siam Reap,
Cambodia 19
1.8 Keeping hyenas as pets in Nigeria 21
1.9 Animal products sourced from Siberia, Russia for sale at
Heihe, a border town in Heilongjiang Province across from
Blagoveshchensk in Amur Oblast 22
1.10 Cock fight in Bali, Indonesia 23
1.11 Planetary boundaries model illustrated in black and white 31
2.1 Location of the Singalila National Park 54
2.2 Tourist inflow in the Singalila National Park 63
3.1 Camels in Hulun Buir, 2019 74
3.2 Beljir, a Buryat camel herder in Hulun Buir, 2019 81
3.3 Camel racing during naadam in Hulun Buir, 2012 84
3.4 Camel racing during winter naadam in Hulun Buir, 2010 85
4.1 Close up of a reindeer 95
5.1 Milking yak, Yambong, West Sikkim, at an average
altitude of above 3,300 meters 112
5.2 Churpi, a hard dried cheese consumed as nut, Gangtok
Shopping Mart, Sikkim 119
5.3 Yak tail, (jyukma), Darap, West Sikkim 121
5.4 Yaks features prominently in Sikkim Tourism 122
6.1 A Sea Turtle in Celebes Sea off the disputed Pulau Sipadan 133
7.1 Professor Lew, ZSL, July 2022 153
7.2 Japanese giant salamander, Okayama, August 2016 155