The Tigers of Curzon Street

This essay combines visual studies, history, literature, and theory to traverse the nature of colonial, postcolonial and decolonizing thought through the eyes of a tiger. In what ways and through what images, the author asks, was tiger hunting central to the maintenance of colonial authority? What does a postcolonial tiger look like? Now, in light of new work in the field of postcolonial environmentalism, what does it mean to decolonize the tiger? The essay is written with a lightness of touch, but the author defends the necessity of laughter, subversion, and irony in our efforts to undo the enduring structures of colonial thought and myth.