American cows in Antarctica: Richard Byrd's polar dairy as symbolic settler colonialism

Few people are aware that dairy cows form part of Antarctic exploration history. Richard Byrd's second expedition of 193335 took with it three Guernseys, ostensibly to provide milk for the men. We outline the cows' Antarctica experience, discussing the way in which their celebrity benefite...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
Main Authors: Leane, E, Nielsen, HEF
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Johns Hopkins University Press 2017
Subjects:
History and Archaeology
Historical Studies
Historical Studies not elsewhere classified
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Byrd
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1353/cch.2017.0024
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/120527
Description
Summary:Few people are aware that dairy cows form part of Antarctic exploration history. Richard Byrd's second expedition of 193335 took with it three Guernseys, ostensibly to provide milk for the men. We outline the cows' Antarctica experience, discussing the way in which their celebrity benefited the expedition and its sponsors. Contextualizing the episode within the cultural history of milk in the US, we suggest some lenses through which the Guernseys can be read. These cows, we argue, enabled Byrd to enact a form of symbolic settler colonialism on the Antarctic continent.

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