Animals, Governance, and American Globalism: Biological Management and Territorial Rule in Early Twentieth Century Hawai‘i

In the early decades of U.S. rule in the Territory of Hawaii, the territorial government’s Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry devoted close attention to species introductions and invasive species.  Biological control of insect pests through the deliberate introduction of insect parasites, debates over bird admissions whether for insect control or beautification, and efforts to deal with problematic livestock populations, particularly goats and their threat to create denuded landscapes, all signaled the importance of animals as objects of colonial governance that had powerful implications for the territory’s economic viability, as well as the ecosystem itself.  The worldwide flows of species, as well as the inter-imperial relationships of scientific experts who sought to contain them, were central to the trans-Pacific and other trans-oceanic networks that linked the American empire to a global imperial order during the early decades of the twentieth century.

 

For further information, please contact: Tom Lassman at 202-633-2419; lassmant@si.edu.

 

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