Introduction to Equestrian Cultures in Global and Local Contexts

Abstract

The changing status of equines is revealing of the many important material and symbolic societal transformations ushered in by (post)modernity—affecting global and local contexts alike. However, few have asked if the changing status of equines is consistent across cultures near and far in time and place. In looking deeper into this question, we redress a concerning imbalance in existing social science literature on equestrian cultures and the equine industry, which has focused almost exclusively on European and North American contexts. The volume we have put together here mounts a convincing argument for the value of equines as subjects of academic study and drivers of public policy. In this introduction, we outline how the different chapters in this volume push current literature and discussion forward. Together they go beyond the work/sport horse divide, reformulate human–horse relations as they unfold socially and historically, and inquire into current equestrian configurations in a wide range of cultural contexts (contributions on Brazil, China, Iran, Morocco, and South Africa are included here). We identify key threads in the burgeoning field of equestrian social science to which our book contributes—gender in equestrian practices; concerns regarding the new equine market and new equine workforce; equestrianism throughout the human life course; class, race, and ethnicity; representations of tradition and modernity in equestrian culture; and performing identity for the self and others. Together, our contributors discuss how these threads intersect in, through and across global and local equestrian contexts.