Killing a Baboon: Applied History and the Anthropocene Ape

Authors

  • Sandra Swart Stellenbosch University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc-springs-15920

Abstract

Processing the horrid February 2025 “Killing [of] a Baboon” by a group of schoolchildren in Delmas, South Africa, Sandra Swart looks back at history and examines the role of superstition and the occult in the ongoing violence against these primates. The article highlights “the power of public outrage in triggering social change” and the weirdly unexpected potential of the popular press and social media in putting an end to intentional cruelty to animals.

Author Biography

  • Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University

    Sandra Swart is a professor and chair of the Department of History at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She received her PhD in modern history from Oxford University in 2001, while simultaneously obtaining an MS (with distinction) in environmental change and management, also at Oxford. Her research focus is the socio-environmental history of southern Africa, with a particular focus on the shifting relationship between humans and animals. Sandra was a Landhaus Fellow in 2024.

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Published

27-05-2025

Issue

No. 7 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Sandra Swart

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.