Like animals, feral children are harnessed to specific cultural projects; one such is Rudyard Kip... more Like animals, feral children are harnessed to specific cultural projects; one such is Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli tales. Effectively eliminating all traces of the animality that threatened the nature of humanity as well as the traces of the native humanity that resisted colonial practices, Kipling produced the ideal native of colonial desire. The Mowgli stories were written in the wake of both the Indian rebellion of 1857 and Darwin's work on evolution; far from being a harmless fable, Kipling's story attempts to invoke the India that he nostalgically called home, one in which hierarchies of race and species operate as natural laws even as they are reformulated to account for political and scientific exigencies. Mowgli's non-subversive transgression of animal-human boundaries undoes the threat of species blurring presented by feral children and allows Kipling to deploy Mowgli's mythical yet (or perhaps therefore) natural animality in the service of the empire.Keywor...
Cary Wolfe says, “It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irr... more Cary Wolfe says, “It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irrespective of the issue of how nonhuman animals are treated… because the discourse of animality has historically served as a crucial strategy in the oppression of humans by other humans—a strategy whose legitimacy and force depend, however, on the prior taking for granted of the traditional ontological distinction, and consequent ethical divide, between human and nonhuman animals. … Even though the discourse of animality and species difference may theoretically be applied to an other of whatever type, the consequences of that discourse, in institutional terms, fall overwhelmingly on nonhuman animals” (Zoontologies, 2003: xx).
Cary Wolfe says, "It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irr... more Cary Wolfe says, "It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irrespective of the issue of how nonhuman animals are treated… because the discourse of animality has historically served as a crucial strategy in the oppression of humans by other humans-a strategy whose legitimacy and force depend, however, on the prior taking for granted of the traditional ontological distinction, and consequent ethical divide, between human and nonhuman animals. … Even though the discourse of animality and species difference may theoretically be applied to an other of whatever type, the consequences of that discourse, in institutional terms, fall overwhelmingly on nonhuman animals" (Zoontologies, 2003: xx).
Audre Lorde was a black lesbian poet, mother and warrior who wrote these words in 1979 to critici... more Audre Lorde was a black lesbian poet, mother and warrior who wrote these words in 1979 to criticise mainstream, white US feminism of her time, which she called racist feminism; particularly, she criticised the use of patriarchal tools by white feminists to continue the oppression of black, lesbian and third world women.
At times this Manicheism goes to its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the native, or to speak p... more At times this Manicheism goes to its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the native, or to speak plainly, it turns him into an animal. In fact, the terms the settler uses when he mentioned the native are zoological terms.
… , gender and rights: exploring theory and …, Jan 1, 2005
Through the Prism of Intersectionality: Same Sex Sexualities in India Jaya Sharma and Dipika Nath... more Through the Prism of Intersectionality: Same Sex Sexualities in India Jaya Sharma and Dipika Nath This paper shares the perspective with which PRISM, an activist forum working on issues of same sex sexualities, approaches sexu-ality, and the way this perspective informs our ...
Like animals, feral children are harnessed to specific cultural projects; one such is Rudyard Kip... more Like animals, feral children are harnessed to specific cultural projects; one such is Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli tales. Effectively eliminating all traces of the animality that threatened the nature of humanity as well as the traces of the native humanity that resisted colonial practices, Kipling produced the ideal native of colonial desire. The Mowgli stories were written in the wake of both the Indian rebellion of 1857 and Darwin's work on evolution; far from being a harmless fable, Kipling's story attempts to invoke the India that he nostalgically called home, one in which hierarchies of race and species operate as natural laws even as they are reformulated to account for political and scientific exigencies. Mowgli's non-subversive transgression of animal-human boundaries undoes the threat of species blurring presented by feral children and allows Kipling to deploy Mowgli's mythical yet (or perhaps therefore) natural animality in the service of the empire.Keywor...
Cary Wolfe says, “It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irr... more Cary Wolfe says, “It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irrespective of the issue of how nonhuman animals are treated… because the discourse of animality has historically served as a crucial strategy in the oppression of humans by other humans—a strategy whose legitimacy and force depend, however, on the prior taking for granted of the traditional ontological distinction, and consequent ethical divide, between human and nonhuman animals. … Even though the discourse of animality and species difference may theoretically be applied to an other of whatever type, the consequences of that discourse, in institutional terms, fall overwhelmingly on nonhuman animals” (Zoontologies, 2003: xx).
Cary Wolfe says, "It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irr... more Cary Wolfe says, "It is crucial to pay critical attention to the discourse of animality quite irrespective of the issue of how nonhuman animals are treated… because the discourse of animality has historically served as a crucial strategy in the oppression of humans by other humans-a strategy whose legitimacy and force depend, however, on the prior taking for granted of the traditional ontological distinction, and consequent ethical divide, between human and nonhuman animals. … Even though the discourse of animality and species difference may theoretically be applied to an other of whatever type, the consequences of that discourse, in institutional terms, fall overwhelmingly on nonhuman animals" (Zoontologies, 2003: xx).
Audre Lorde was a black lesbian poet, mother and warrior who wrote these words in 1979 to critici... more Audre Lorde was a black lesbian poet, mother and warrior who wrote these words in 1979 to criticise mainstream, white US feminism of her time, which she called racist feminism; particularly, she criticised the use of patriarchal tools by white feminists to continue the oppression of black, lesbian and third world women.
At times this Manicheism goes to its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the native, or to speak p... more At times this Manicheism goes to its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the native, or to speak plainly, it turns him into an animal. In fact, the terms the settler uses when he mentioned the native are zoological terms.
… , gender and rights: exploring theory and …, Jan 1, 2005
Through the Prism of Intersectionality: Same Sex Sexualities in India Jaya Sharma and Dipika Nath... more Through the Prism of Intersectionality: Same Sex Sexualities in India Jaya Sharma and Dipika Nath This paper shares the perspective with which PRISM, an activist forum working on issues of same sex sexualities, approaches sexu-ality, and the way this perspective informs our ...
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