Canines and contraband: dogs, nonhuman agency and the making of the Franco-Belgian border during the French Third Republic

Abstract

To deepen understandings of the relationship between animal agents and borders, this article explores the history of smuggling and customs dogs on the Franco-Belgian border between 1871 and 1940. Both kinds of dogs became enmeshed in the bordering process. Smuggling dogs were seen to undermine the Third Republic's efforts to secure its territory during a period of anxiety about the porosity of the nation's borders. In response, customs officials, journalists and others mobilized customs dogs to defend borders and state revenues, portraying them as intelligent, skilled and loyal animals. This article situates the history of smuggling and customs dogs within border studies and animal studies literatures, arguing that animals are significant, if neglected, agents in the construction and contestation of borders. It focuses in particular on human understandings and mobilizations of nonhuman agency that helped the French imagine their borders. In addition, the mobilization of customs dogs reflected and reinforced the reinvention of the dog in Western societies as auxiliaries in defending state control of territory.