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

• 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

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.