The `Cardinauts' of the Western Coast of Wales

Abstract

This article is concerned with considering non-human animals as examples of inalienable material culture. The non-human animals in question are the horses indigenous to a particular area of West Wales in the UK, where they have been selectively bred for centuries. The purpose of this breeding programme initially was to ensure that they were able to negotiate the obstacles presented by the local landscape, thereby providing a lifeline to the people living on isolated farms and smallholdings in the area. However, now that horses are no longer integral to agricultural production, their selective breeding is continued to achieve different ends — the fame of their human owners who engage in a form of ceremonial exchange reminiscent of the Trobriand kula. Traditionally, kula participants travelled to neighbouring islands to exchange shell items which were, according to Malinowski `possessed for the sake of possession itself, and the ownership of them with the ensuing renown . . . the main source of their value' (1922: 89). As Leip (2001) notes when comparing bird watching in contemporary Sweden to the kula, the two practices are not directly comparable. Nonetheless, comparison is rewarding with regard to the motivations of the players involved. Such a position will form the basis of the discussion.