Table Of ContentP
ig
Brett Mizelle
Animal series
Pig
Animal
Series editor: Jonathan Burt
Already published
Ant Fox Rhinoceros
Charlotte Sleigh Martin Wallen Kelly Enright
Ape Fly Salmon
John Sorenson Steven Connor Peter Coates
Bear Giraffe Shark
Robert E. Bieder Mark Williams Dean Crawford
Bee Hare Snail
Claire Preston Simon Carnell Peter Williams
Camel Horse Snake
Robert Irwin Elaine Walker Drake Stutesman
Cat Lion Sparrow
Katharine M. Rogers Deidre Jackson Kim Todd
Cockroach Moose Spider
Marion Copeland Kevin Jackson Katja and Sergiusz Michalski
Cow Otter Swan
Hannah Velten Daniel Allen Peter Young
Crow Oyster Tiger
Boria Sax Rebecca Stott Susie Green
Dog Peacock Tortoise
Susan McHugh Christine E. Jackson Peter Young
Donkey Parrot Trout
Jill Bough Paul Carter James Owen
Duck Penguin Vulture
Victoria de Rijke Stephen Martin Thom Van Dooren
Eel Pig Whale
Richard Schweid Brett Mizelle Joe Roman
Elephant Pigeon
Daniel Wylie Barbara Allen
Falcon Rat
Helen Macdonald Jonathan Burt
Pig
Brett Mizelle
reaktion books
For my mother, Marion Jones Nairn Mizelle
Published by
reaktion books ltd
33Great Sutton Street
London ec1v 0dx, uk
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
First published 2011
Copyright © Brett Mizelle2011
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publishers.
Printed and bound in China
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mizelle, Brett.
Pig. – (Animal)
1. Suidae. 2. Swine. 3. Swine as laboratory animals.
4. Pork industry and trade. 5. Swine in literature.
6. Swine in art.
I. TitleII. Series
599.6'33-dc22
isbn: 978 1 86189 805 0
Contents
Preface 7
1 What is a Pig? 12
2 A Shared History 26
3 Hogs in the New World 41
4 Meat 65
5 Human–Pig Partnerships 94
6 Good Pigs and Bad Pigs 116
7 Pigs of the Imagination 138
8 The Return of the Repressed: Wild-living Pigs 172
Timeline of the Pig 182
References 184
Select Bibliography 204
Associations and Websites 212
Acknowledgements 214
Photo Acknowledgements 216
Index 219
Preface
Pigs are ubiquitous in the modern world, whether we are talk-
ing about the more than one billion domesticated pigs on the
planet or the countless representations of pigs and ‘piggish-
ness’ that circulate through most of the world’s cultures. The
pig is an animal that seems well enough known: who, after all,
does not know what a pig is or knows what it means to call
someone a ‘pig’?
As it turns out, however, pigs – as both living animals and as
symbols – deserve a second look, a reconsideration of both their
unique talents and their contribution to human history. While
a comprehensive history of the extensive, varied and compli-
cated human–pig relationship is impossible, I hope to show that
pigs are more than just the 18per cent ham, 16per cent bacon,
15per cent loin, 12per cent fatback, 10per cent lard and 3per
cent each of spare rib, plate, jowl, foot and trimmings that exit
the modern packing plant. After all, pigs have been structurally
and symbolically significant in the making of human society
and culture across the globe. Pigs have fed us, entertained us and
provided us with ways to think about our relationships with
each other on this porcine planet.
The pig has also been shaped by its long relationship with
humans. Evolution and human intervention have led to the
development of more than 500breeds and varieties of pigs that
7
‘Those persons
who have attended
at all to the
manners of Swine,
have observed,
that they are by
no means deficient
in sagacity; but
the short lives that
we allow them,
and the general
confinement they
undergo, entirely
prevent their
improvement can be found on every continent except Antarctica. In addition
in this respect’:
to their use as food, pigs have been subjects of medical experi-
‘Swine’ from
William Bingley, mentation and bred to provide ‘spare parts’ for humans, as there
Memoirs of British
are numerous similarities between human and pig physiology.
Quadrupeds . . .
(1809). In an interesting paradox, however, the more pigs there are in
the world, the harder it has become to see them. Although living
pigs used to be familiar in a number of social environments,
over time, especially in developed nations, they have vanished
from view. Recent developments in the way pork is produced
Daughter of
resettlement
client, San Luis
Valley Farms,
Alamosa, Colorado,
poses with two of
her father’s fine
pigs’, c. 1939. The
usgovernment
relocated about
10,000impover-
ished farming
families to more
promising land
during the
New Deal.
8
