“It occurs to me that we crush insects beneath our feet, miracles of creation too, beetles, worms, cockroaches, ants, in their various ways. –J.M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians

Concerned as it is with the historical and contemporary experience of formerly European colonies, postcolonial studies have shown little interest in the effects of such controlling power on non-human animals. In identifying the political, sociological, and economic impact of “Western” imperialistic pursuits upon non-European “others,” post-colonialism has concentrated almost singularly on “other” humans. The cost of European territorial conquest and the discursive operations of empire however, were not borne solely by human beings, but arguably, by non-human animals as well. Indeed, the colonial legacy of empire is undoubtedly responsible for the construction of what is essentially, a non-human animal subaltern.

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