The Illumination of the Animal Kingdom

The Role of Light and Electricity in Animal Representation

Bibliographic Data

ID8099232
AuthorsJonathan Burt (0000-0002-7328-0643, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume9
Issue3
Pages203-228
Publication date2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociety and Animals (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1063-1119 • E-ISSN: 1568-5306
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/156853001753644381
OpenAlexW2003380887
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited2

This essay addresses the subject of animal representation via an historical account of the place of the animal in visual culture. It emphasizes the relationship between the animal as a visual image and the technology that produces this image. It explores three examples in a period covering c. 1895 to the 1930s, in Britain, that analyze the relations between animal representation, technology, and the public domain. These are film, zoo display, and slaughterhouse practice. The overall goal of the essay is to move away from emphasis on the textual, metaphorical animal, which reduces the animal to a mere icon, to achieve a more integrated view of the effects of the presence of the animals and the power of its imagery in human history. "[s]i l'animal a le temps, s'il est «constitué» par un «temps»" ["[w]hether the animal has time, whether the animal is 'constituted' by a 'time.'"] (Derrida, 1999, p. 273

Biology · Domestication · Human animal · Icon · Political science · Power (physics · Representation (politics · Computer Science · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Visual Culture and Art Theory · Ecology · Law