Virtual Event – Horses and Place-Making: A More-Than-Human Geography of Equine Britain

Scroll this

Horses and Place-Making: A More-Than-Human Geography of Equine Britain

with Neil Ward, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia

11 December 2024 – 7pm GMT – Online

Animal History Group Seminar
Register Here

Perhaps more than any other animal species, the horse has shaped the world of human development for several millennia. While equestrian history has flourished over the last two decades, geographers have engaged little with the role of the horse in the evolution of places, be they towns, cities, rural landscapes or nations. Taking an historical-geographical approach, and using Britain as a case study, this paper explores the role of the horse in the more-than-human geography of a nation. It traces the role and implications of horse-based mobility for the evolution of settlement structure, urban morphology and the rural landscape.  It maps the growth and various uses of horses to the point of ‘peak horse’ in the early twentieth century before considering the contemporary place of the horse in twenty-first century economy and society. It assesses the role of the horse in the formation of places within Britain and in the formation of the nation. The paper reflects on the implications of this historical and contemporary equine geography for animal geographies and animal studies. It argues for the study of animals in general in how places are made, not just by humans. 

Animal History Group Seminar - Horses and Place-Making: A More-Than-Human Geography of Equine Britain
The following two tabs change content below.

Animal History Group

The Animal History Group is an international network for postgraduates, academics, archive and museum workers and other professionals whose work engages with animals in history.

NiCHE encourages comments and constructive discussion of our articles. We reserve the right to delete comments that fail to meet our guidelines including comments under aliases, or that contain spam, harassment, or attacks on an individual.