in Studies in Global Animal Law 

Today I would like to recommend a specific chapter in the book Studies in Global Animal Law edited by Anne Peters. While there are a number of great works you can read in this, the chapter I am specifically recommending is Animal Colonialism: The Case of Milk by Mathilde Cohen. As many will already be aware, much of the world population is naturally intolerant to lactose, including most Africans and Asians. Mathilde explores the fascinating history of animal colonialism, which disrupted local ecosystems and changed the relationships between mothers and their young. The story of milk’s globalization is one that goes hand-in-hand with colonialism and the spread of dairy is described by Mathilde as imposing foreign ideas about animal-human relationships on communities.

“The notion of animals as property proved essential to the diffusion of animal farming, particularly dairying, as it was used to rationalise the taking of milk from female animals for human consumption.”

Milk is produced by female mothers and therefore the exploitation of female bodies for the dairy industry is an area that has drawn a lot of feminist critique, this chapter also highlights the history of dairying as one linked with colonialism, as “lactating animals became integral parts of colonial and neo-colonial projects as tools of agro-expansionism and human population planning.

You can read this chapter here.

Title: Animal Colonialism: The Case of Milk in Studies in Global Animal Law, edited By Anne Peters

Author: Mathilde Cohen

ISBN: 978-1013277054

Publisher: Saint Philip Street Press

Mathilde Cohen is a French-American scholar who writes about law society with a particular interest in colonialism, and the way in which the law addresses birthing, lactating and childcare. She is a Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut. 

Abdourahamane Ly, guest curator for Veganuary at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative. He has been vegan for the past seven years. He is extremely passionate about animal rights and encouraging more humans, especially Africans, to go vegan. He was born in Guinea in West Africa but spent the last 13 years in China. He is currently in Rwanda spreading the vegan message. You can follow him on Instagram at @fulanivegan and X at @fulanivegan