Juliana Adelman, Civilised by Beasts: Animals and Urban Change in Nineteenth-Century Dublin

Juliana Adelman, Civilised by Beasts: Animals and Urban Change in Nineteenth-Century Dublin, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2021), 248.

Have you ever received a notice from the city council asking you to promise you will not use the shed in your backyard to keep pigs? Juliana Adelman did this when she wanted to transform her shed into an office, inspiring her to write this book. Civilized by Beasts is a book that challenges Dublin’s urban history by putting animals at the center of the narrative, acknowledging their transformative role and power while arguing that the city is not a ‘human-only’ space made purely out of middle-class human relations.

Adelman has divided nineteenth-century Dublin into different eras, and each chapter follows these eras in chronological order. Chapters 1 and 2 cover the period from 1830 to 1850, tracing the establishment of the Dublin Zoological Society in the former and Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1840. These chapters explore themes such as human ascendency and animal agency and mostly middle-class human & non-human animal relationships in relation to current politics and social context. Thus, using these establishments as a starting point serves as an indicator of changing dynamics and the evolving understanding of animals within the city. In Chapter 3, the book examines the aftermath of a famine, focusing on concerns about health, morality, and the exploitation of non-human animals, particularly cattle and livestock. It discusses how regulations related to farming and meat consumption evolve and impact the city, offering a fresh perspective on the role of animals in a well-known historic event. The following chapters also touch upon policing practices on animals and conclude that nineteenth-century Dublin is an urban space of human and non-human animal compromises and mutual construction.

Adelman presents her arguments through what she calls a “social historian” approach but makes it clear that although she searches for “people” as actors, she believes that the middle class should not be looked at in isolation regarding urban development and should be inclusive of animal agencies. She supports her arguments with administrative records, diaries, pamphlets, ballades, images, and consultations from travel guides, trade directories, and business records drawing on works of scholars such as Harriet Ritvo, Susan Nance, and more.

This book, as the author also states herself, is not simply an urban development history but rather a piece of work that questions relationalities, agencies, power structures, and industrial processes in a space that is thought to be ‘human-only.’ It attracts and keeps attention by using figures, illustrations, and maps that help visualize the material. Not only does it provide historical background and a timeline of relations – which helps in contextualizing – but it also uses notions of culture, nature, exploitation, habitats, and more to do so which is why it is worth a read.