JOURNAL ARTICLE

The Rabbit Drive: A Spectacle of Violence and Masculinity in the American West, 1880s to 1930s.

  • Published In: Western Historical Quarterly, 2025, v. 56, n. 4. P. 295 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Hutchinson, Paul 3 of 3

Abstract

This article examines the history and social significance of rabbit drives—mass communal killings of jackrabbits conducted across the American West from the 1880s to the 1930s—as a ritualized form of pest control deeply intertwined with performances of rural White masculinity. Rabbit drives involved driving large numbers of rabbits into corrals where men and boys clubbed them to death, often in front of entire communities and increasingly documented through photography, which served to memorialize and project masculine dominance over nature. Originating in California and influenced by similar practices in Australia, these events combined environmental management with social spectacle, reinforcing masculine identity amid ecological and economic challenges such as the Dust Bowl. The article highlights how rabbit drives functioned less as effective pest eradication and more as theatrical displays of control, solidarity, and gender performance, with photography playing a central role in shaping and preserving these narratives.

Additional Information

  • Source:Western Historical Quarterly. 2025/12, Vol. 56, Issue 4, p295
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Politics and Government
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:0043-3810
  • DOI:10.1093/whq/whaf061
  • Accession Number:190282283
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