Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain by John Beusterien (review)

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Reviewed by:

• Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain by John Beusterien
• Emily Kuffner

John Beusterien. Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain. AMSTERDAM UP, 2020. 254 PP.

THIS BOOK HIGHLIGHTS the fundamental role nonhuman animals played in the culture of early modern Spain and its empire by tracing the stories of five early modern animals transported to Spain and used as spectacles. John Beusterien approaches his subject through biogeographies: animal biographies that take into account the habitat and cultural milieu of a particular animal, examining how that animal influenced culture and was influenced by it. Beusterien's methodology weaves together compelling storytelling with animal studies, cultural studies, performance studies, and empire studies; likewise, he draws from a broad range of sources including historical documents, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. Beusterien has two overarching goals in his study. The first is to elucidate some of the valuable contributions made by Spanish collectors and authors to the foundations of natural science, thereby adding to the reevaluation of Spain's role in the development of scientific thinking in early modern Europe undertaken by scholars such as José Pardo Tomás, John Slater, and Juan Pimentel. Second, the author seeks to grant subjectivity to anonymous animals traded as pawns through imperial gift-giving via strategies such as inventing names for them.

Transoceanic Animals consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, and two appendices. The introduction, "Armored Beasts and the Elephant in the Room," describes the central place of animal spectacles in early modern Spanish culture. Beusterien argues that the category of the exotic animal emerges in the sixteenth century as European monarchies sought to consolidate their global identities in opposition to a fetishized East and the expanding colonies in the Americas. He situates his analysis within animal studies and approaches to the Anthropocene that seek to decenter the human. Beusterien argues that early modern animal spectacles served as a precursor to the modern Anthropocene's unsustainable approach to the natural environment, arguing for a more ethical attention to nonhuman animals in the past as well as the present.

Chapter 1, "Hawa'i the Elephant and Abada the Rhinoceros," traces the life of these two gifts from the Mughal emperor Akbar to Philip II. After harrowing transoceanic journeys, both were displayed initially in El Escorial [End Page 383] and then in the Antón Martín hospital in Madrid. An entrance fee charged to see the animals created income for charitable services to the poor. Beusterien highlights the intimate connections between hospitals and the emergence of the commercial theater since dramatic works were performed in hospital courtyards before the construction of permanent theaters (corrales de comedias). Once drama moved to permanent playhouses, hospitals continued to receive funds from the proceeds of theatrical productions. In recounting the history of these animals, Beusterien illustrates the frequently cruel treatment of captive animals in the period. In the case of the the elephant, Philip II regifted it to the king of France who, displeased with the cost of keeping the animal, passed it on to the English court where the elephant died at the young age of thirteen (in contrast to the average lifespan of forty years of captive elephants). The rhino received arguably worse treatment; after she made several attacks on humans, her eyes and horn were removed, leaving her to live as a miserable captive who also died young. Beusterien connects these animals' individual lives to the construction of Philip II's imperial persona as Planet King: the gifts demonstrated the monarch's importance on the global stage and his dominance over the exotic regions of the Orient. As war animals, their captive status illustrated Philip's role as peacemaker who brought a new Pax Romana, as is visually illustrated on an engraved ewer by Juan de Arfe (1535–1603). Beusterien further argues that Philip's collections and similar early modern menageries were an important step towards the emergence of the modern zoo.

Chapter 2, "Fuleco the Armadillo," centers on an armadillo carapace displayed in the collection of the humanist Gonzalo Argote de Molina (1548–96) in Seville. Little is known of the animal itself, although it had most likely been eaten for...