Horse/power: human–animal mobile assemblage in the contemporary city

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on an under-studied aspect of contemporary urban life through the experience of working horses and horse cart drivers as they negotiate mobility and livelihoods on the streets on Cape Town. By adopting an ethnographic approach including embedded participant observation, the paper provides insights to the everyday mobility of urban working animals, their human counterparts and their unique ‘humanimal’ assemblage. Results trace daily routes of travel, while providing a deeper understanding of the mobility challenges of horse carts. Ethnographic data reveal how horse cart riders depend on this form of mobility as a primary source of income which the riders use to provide for their daily needs and expenses. At the same time, this study sheds light on the elements that govern the daily mobility of horse carts including motive force, velocity, rhythm, route, experience and friction. This study fills a critical gap in research on urban animals and mobility in African cities, with findings that lend appreciation to the daily activity and travels from home and the road and their inherent knowledge of the city.

KEYWORDS:

• Horses
• urban animals
• mobilities
• assemblage
• humanimal relations

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to extend gratitude to Imran ‘Imi’ Dortley for allowing us to gain otherwise unknown invaluable knowledge as he made his way through the streets of Cape Town; and to Zelda Erasmus and colleagues at the Cart Horse Protection Association who made it possible to successfully conduct research with respect and dignity for members of the cart horse community – both human and equine.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Bradley Rink (PhD, University of Cape Town) is a human geographer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Environmental Studies & Tourism at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Bellville (Cape Town), South Africa. His current research project Mobilities in the global South is concerned with the relational aspects of people, objects and ideas in/around urban environments.

Justin Crow completed his BA (Hons) at the University of the Western Cape.