Good dogs and bad dogs: rabies and the invention of a new canine order under the British South Africa Company government (Southern Rhodesia), 1902–1913

This paper examines Southern Rhodesia’s 1902–1913 rabies outbreaks using primary sources which were generated by Native Commissioners, the Veterinary Department and other government departments. It uses a rural case study to contribute to the global dog historiography and the global rabies historiography which both ventilate the views of Western (urban) ruling classes and their middle-class collaborators in issues regarding dog-owning, rabies outbreaks and rabies eradication methods. The perspectives of peasants and rural institutions are absent in these historiographies. This creates the view that elitist perspectives about rabies and purebred dogs are the only credible animal histories of rabies in the world. The article concludes by highlighting African cultural views about dogs that eventually influenced some colonial authorities to accept the use of some traditional rabies eradication methods.