Auf den Spuren der Arbeitstiere

The working animals – in our regions, horses, donkeys, mules, dogs, and cattle – were ubiquitous in the countryside and in the growing cities. During the studied period, they were important parts of social life and left traces in society, in the world created by and with them, as well as in the archives. From their productive potentials and the conditions of their reproduction, certain ways of life, economic practices, and spatial arrangements emerged.

The multifaceted coexistence of humans and their working animals, as well as the shared space between them, has only been perceived and written about in rudimentary ways as a common history until now. The author follows the social, agricultural, economic, transport, and cultural historical trails of working animals through society. On these paths, we encounter not only animals and humans but also the form of cooperation between human-animal teams, where the actions and effects of both became a manifest third entity. The associated questions regarding reason, intelligence, will, and the agency or effectiveness of animals are not new. They have long preoccupied those who engage with animals. The traces lead away from the commonly assumed nature-culture or subject-object dichotomy and away from the premises of the so-called anthropological difference into a world where humans and animals were closely connected and knew more about each other.