The Order of Ostriches

23 July 2012, 1731 EDT

The Punjab Assembly displays a sophisticated view of ontology. Or it just makes your head hurt.

Ostrich, a heavy flightless bird of African origin, was officially declared ‘an animal’ on Wednesday when Punjab Assembly passed a bill overruling the objections raised by the Punjab governor who had refused to sign it, saying, it was a ‘bird’ covered under the definition of exotic species not native to Pakistan.

This move isn’t quite as weird in the context of relevant statutes. And it definitely has Foucaultian resonances.

“As the Ostrich comes under the definition of exotic animal, being wildlife species not native to Pakistan and not included in the Second Schedule, there fore, the same cannot be imported”, the PPP legislator told the House taking clue from the objections raised by the governor who had noted that “Inclusion of Ostrich in the category of permissible animals to be slaughtered under the proposed amendment shall be anomalous without prior amendment in sections 2(ccc) and 14(1) of the Punjab Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 1974”.

…. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana preferred not to go into the legality of farming and slaughtering of Ostrich in Pakistan. Instead, he confined himself to saying that Punjab government had included Ostrich in the category of animals like goats and sheep to meet the increasing demand for meat in the province. He argued that farming and sale of Ostrich’s meat was in vogue across the world which was also good for human consumption.

Still, for those who remain confused, some clarification might be a good idea. HTH:

Relationship between the Category “Animals” and the Category “Birds”

(via Chris Fair)

Dan Nexon

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.