In the early twentieth century, the Buenos Aires Zoo was the most visited zoo in the world. In addition to teaching Argentines about animals, the zoo and its representations contributed to social debates. With respect to labor and class, Argentine authors developed the image of an aristocratic zoo populated by animals living in luxury and contrasted with “proletariat” animals like horses and donkeys. Although this image was consistent across genres and political ideologies, it (and the physical zoo itself) were put to very different uses by diverse social groups. Some supported emerging labor movements, while others engaged the same tropes to defend the status quo. This talk traces those projects and asks if there can be interspecies solidarity when it comes to workers’ rights.

Ashley Kerr is an associate professor in the University of Idaho’s School of Global Studies. She received her PhD in Spanish from the University of Virginia. Her first book, Sex, Skulls, and Citizens: Gender and Racial Science in Argentina (1860-1910), was named the 2020 Best Book by the Nineteenth Century Studies section of the Latin American Studies Association. Her second book, which will be published in 2025, analyzes how the Buenos Aires Zoo and its animals were used to shape Argentine society at the turn of the century.