Conserving Pigs, Modeling Humans

Principle Investigator：Rong-Tai Chen

I am writing my doctoral thesis on the conservation and development efforts of Taiwanese animal scientists and breeders concerning the Lanyu pig, the only indigenous pig breed in Taiwan. While pigs with similar characteristics were present in local communities of on the main island of Taiwan in the early 20th century, by the 1970s, as Taiwanese livestock scientists began to seek out smaller pigs for use in laboratory research, only the Tao people of Lanyu Island continued to breed these local pigs. Since then, the Lanyu pig has come to occupy a dual role: as a local breed to be conserved and as a subject to be developed for scientific purposes.

In this research, I trace the displacements of the Lanyu pig, examining the techniques, knowledge, and emotions employed by animal scientists and breeders to conserve it, as well as the experiments and imaginations that shape its use as a model for the human species. Through this lens, I explore the multiple roles the Lanyu pig assumes, and the varying agencies attributed to it in different practices. The alarming loss of biocultural diversity underscores the need for Homo sapiens and Sus scrofa to establish a form of interspecies “solidarity”. At the same time, the distance maintained between humans and pigs enables the former to experiment on the latter in pursuit of the human future.

In this context, species conservation and animal experimentation can be seen as two interrelated sets of biotechnical practices that manage and intensify the inherent tensions in human-animal domestication relationships. While the concept of "pastoral power" has been used analogically to discuss biopolitics among humans, other more "subversive" powers may emerge when the bodies and perspectives of domestic animals are included in (multi-species) biopolitics. By studying the practices on and around Lanyu pigs ethnographically and historically, this project aims to contribute to the ongoing collective work on cosmopolitics.