Of cows and men: Nationalism and A ustralian cow making

This article explores why cows were identified as A ustralian in a public debate over the treatment of cattle in I ndonesian abattoirs. Using a discursive approach applied to data extracted from media coverage, the article traces the debate, beginning with the ways A ustralian‐ness was constructed before moving on to consider the implications of this construction in relation to nationalism and rights. The article argues that making the cows A ustralian had two functions. By being treated as autochthonous they were presumed to hold a certain set of rights which justified interference in practices occurring in an independent sovereign nation. Second, the nationalism implicit in the rendering of animals as A ustralian functioned to contrast A ustralia's ‘civilisation’ with I ndonesian (and I slam's) ‘barbarism’, allowing A ustralia to re‐assert a sense of itself as humanitarian. This was particularly relevant in a context where that humanity was in question due to A ustralia's treatment of asylum seekers.