Ansikte mot ansikte. Om etiska kortslutningar i mötet mellan människor och apor – och om skönlitterära motarbeten
(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:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3348696
- author
- Björck, Amelie LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Face to face. On ethical deadlocks and undoings in literary encounters between humans and apes
- publishing date
- 2013
- 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}}, }