ABSTRACT
Recent scholarly studies supporting China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which spans more than 100 countries, argue that it will bring sustainability through the rapid completion of infrastructural projects. Through a careful examination of the lifeworlds of poor donkey keepers in Pakistan, I argue in this chapter that sustainability should be measured by the wellbeing of both humans and more-than-humans, and by preserving the knotted relationship between humans and donkeys that remains critical for these communities. By analyzing donkey trade and slaughter in development of a traditional Chinese medicine, ejioa, I examine the disappearance of donkeys from the local ecology and provide an analytical reflection on the current sustainability framework.
