From Boredom to Training: Rethinking Life in Terms of Agamben and Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

This study deals with the biopolitical implications of the ark metaphor, which the modern zoo often employs to explicate its role in conservation. I would like to argue that, even though the implication of saving endangered species seems to be a praiseworthy move away from human-centered values, the metaphor, recalling its biblical allusion of Noah's Ark, is laden with the humanistic assumption that man is the only species in the animal kingdom capable of saving the others. My suggestion is that a reinvestigation of the ark metaphor be conducted through the posthuman perspective. Beginning from the examination of various abnormal behaviors caused by boredom, which are commonly observed in zoo animals, I contend that the connection between zoo and ark reveals the desire of modern biopolitics, which endeavors to subordinate ”lives” as manageable units. An alternative way of seeing life and a new ethics of co-existence, therefore, are needed. I suggest that we look into Agamben's discontent with Heidegger's assertion of the absolute gap between animality and humanity made obvious in the experience of profound boredom in ”The Open”. Challenging Heidegger's humanism, Agamben suggests that an alternative ethics lies in the ”inactivity” of the dialect between humanity and animality. In this study, I purpose to find the solution through Merleau-Ponty's concept of behavior and body schema, and I will also try to examine training, which is practiced often in modern zoos for the purpose of solving the problem of boredom. I will argue that, in training, the repetitive practice which cultivates certain behaviors and establishes keeper-animal relationships, one could see how the boundary between nature and culture, animality and humanity, behavior and comportment is blurred. Refuting the traditional stigmatized concept of training, Donna Haraway contends that, rather than a relationship of dominion, it draws the participants into a contact zone in which the process of ”becoming with” is enacted. This, I hope, might shed light on the phenomenon of boredom and the related discussions about the relationship between animality and humanity.