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Ansikte mot ansikte. Om etiska kortslutningar i mötet mellan människor och apor – och om skönlitterära motarbeten

Björck, Amelie LU (2013) In Edda
Abstract
The modernisation of human civilisation demands sacrifices of other species for work, food, clothing, medical research, space exploration – and human self affirmation. To enable the asymmetrical relations, a hierarchical dualism between Man and Animal has been constructed and is maintained by a mechanism of continual differentiation. My aim in this article is to consider how literary fiction may take part in the denaturalisation of this mechanism, named by Giorgio Agamben as the ”anthropological machine”. For this purpose I highlight five different meetings between apes and humans, as narrated in Swedish novels from the last decades, and analyse them from an ethical and animal discourse point of view. My readings demonstrate how literature... (More)
The modernisation of human civilisation demands sacrifices of other species for work, food, clothing, medical research, space exploration – and human self affirmation. To enable the asymmetrical relations, a hierarchical dualism between Man and Animal has been constructed and is maintained by a mechanism of continual differentiation. My aim in this article is to consider how literary fiction may take part in the denaturalisation of this mechanism, named by Giorgio Agamben as the ”anthropological machine”. For this purpose I highlight five different meetings between apes and humans, as narrated in Swedish novels from the last decades, and analyse them from an ethical and animal discourse point of view. My readings demonstrate how literature can call acute attention to the recurrent human blockage of the face of the animal other, and to the emotional unsettlement evoked by this act. Hereby, I argue, the human/animal divide is put into question as a relevant basis of ethical decision. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
alternative title
Face to face. On ethical deadlocks and undoings in literary encounters between humans and apes
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
Human–animal studies, apes, animal ethics of encounter, contemporary literature, anthropological machine, carnophallogocentrism
in
Edda
issue
2013:1
publisher
Universitetsforlaget
ISSN
0013-0818
project
Nosce te ipsum. On literary engagements between apes and humans in literature after Darwin.
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
92c5a93a-b8cf-461f-9b22-52804aa2eb47 (old id 3348696)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:35:10
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:17:40
@article{92c5a93a-b8cf-461f-9b22-52804aa2eb47,
  abstract     = {{The modernisation of human civilisation demands sacrifices of other species for work, food, clothing, medical research, space exploration – and human self affirmation. To enable the asymmetrical relations, a hierarchical dualism between Man and Animal has been constructed and is maintained by a mechanism of continual differentiation. My aim in this article is to consider how literary fiction may take part in the denaturalisation of this mechanism, named by Giorgio Agamben as the ”anthropological machine”. For this purpose I highlight five different meetings between apes and humans, as narrated in Swedish novels from the last decades, and analyse them from an ethical and animal discourse point of view. My readings demonstrate how literature can call acute attention to the recurrent human blockage of the face of the animal other, and to the emotional unsettlement evoked by this act. Hereby, I argue, the human/animal divide is put into question as a relevant basis of ethical decision.}},
  author       = {{Björck, Amelie}},
  issn         = {{0013-0818}},
  keywords     = {{Human–animal studies; apes; animal ethics of encounter; contemporary literature; anthropological machine; carnophallogocentrism}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  number       = {{2013:1}},
  publisher    = {{Universitetsforlaget}},
  series       = {{Edda}},
  title        = {{Ansikte mot ansikte. Om etiska kortslutningar i mötet mellan människor och apor – och om skönlitterära motarbeten}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}