Savage: The Making of Modern Dogs in Hong Kong explores the dark side of colonial modernity through canine eyes, showing the many ways that dogs involuntarily contributed to the modernization of twentieth-century Hong Kong. Catherine S. Chan follows the piecemeal transplantation of British animal humanitarianism as pedigree dogs accompanied hardening class differences, dogmeat became a contested racial issue, and dogs were roped into the long list of undesirables fabricated in the so-called golden era of reforms following the social disturbances of the 1960s.
Chan reveals a fragmented civilizing project that constructed dogs as dangerous, filthy, and unnecessary nuisances in a burgeoning city, rationalizing the slaughter of tens of thousands of dogs alongside paradoxical criticism of the native population for perpetrating animal cruelty and the promotion of British animal humanitarianism. Departing from anthropocentric perspectives in understanding the use of Britishness in the molding of modern cities, Savage restores the presence and agency of dogs to encourage a rethinking of the patchiness of British colonial governance and the long-lasting repercussions that modernity can have on our relationship with animals.
(abstract from the book Savage: The Making of Modern Dogs in Hong Kong)
The Speaker
Catherine S. Chan a historian of modern and contemporary East and Southeast Asia at Lingnan University. Her research interests include trans-imperial mobilities, heritage preservation, and human-animal relations. She is the author of The Macanese Diaspora in British Hong Kong: A Century of Transimperial Drifting and Savage: The Making of Modern Dogs in British Hong Kong.
https://www.ln.edu.hk/history/people/catherine
PROGRAMME
Date: Wednesday, 4 November 2026
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
(Reception starts at 6:30 pm)
Venue: Café 8, Roof, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Pier 8, Central
Admission: $175 for members, $220 for guests /non-members
(Light refreshments are included in the admission fee)
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