April 24, 9:00-11:00 CST; 16:00-18:00 CET; 17:00-19:00 MSK
Presenters:
Marianna
Szczygielska (Institute of Ethnology, CAS, Prague) and Anastasia Fedotova (Institute for the History of Science and Technology, St. Petersburg)
Discussant: Nigel Rothfels (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Chair: Maria Pirogovskaya (European University in St Petersburg)
Organizer: Anastasia Fedotova
Between 1796 and 1896 a total of nine elephants
arrived in Saint Petersburg. These extraordinary animals were sent to the tsar
and his heir as diplomatic gifts by dignitaries from Iran, Bukhara, Siam, and
Abyssinia. The first three arrivals were placed in the so-called Hunting Yard
(nowadays Saint Petersburg downtown), but later a special elephant enclosure
was built in the gardens of the Tsarskoye Selo imperial residence. A host of
dedicated caretakers and veterinarians attended to the needs of each animal. As
avatars of power (Pirogovskaya 2024), these elephants were pampered rather than
just enslaved (Robbins 2002). Our presentation explores the regimes of keeping
and caring for elephants in the capital of the Russian Empire in the long
nineteenth century. We start with discussing the logistics of moving the huge
inhabitants of the tropics to North-Eastern Europe. Based on archival documents,
we follow the lives of these nine elephants, as well as the people who served
as their keepers to reconstruct the conditions of caring for these precious animal
gifts. By focusing on the elephants’ diets, their veterinary care, and welfare,
we analyze the expertise that laid the foundation for keeping elephants in the imperial
menagerie. We do so in order to compare this ‘pampered’ elephant captivity with
the conditions available for these animals in public zoological gardens and
menageries in Russia and abroad. This comparison will highlight the role of
political patronage and resources in captive elephant management beyond Western
colonialism.
The link will be sent before the meeting