The Animals Of Spain: Continuity And Change

Chapter Summary

The eighteenth century witnessed noticeable changes in the Spanish empire, but there were also significant continuities. And humans continued to reflect on the animality inherent in their humanity. The spirit of the Enlightenment brought change to the culture constructed by the human animals of Spain, but what about the Enlightenment and the nonhuman animals of the Spanish empire? Like humans, the other animals of Spain experienced continuity and change in the eighteenth century. Sheep and dogs, like their shepherds, continued to labor for a beset Mesta. In the cultural environment that humans had constructed for them, the nonhuman animals of Spain experienced tremors but no full scale earthquakes. They continued to generate facets of human-dominated culture themselves, and their defenders continued to appear. As in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the animals of Spain continued to be valued for their profitability.

Keywords:animals; change; continuity; cultural environment; enlightenment; humans; nonhuman animals; Spain; valued