Abstract
Abstract: This essay employs Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688) as a case study through which to explore the "interspecies imaginary": a conceptual framework that examines how violent tensions between disparate species are imagined in the colonial archive and how these tensions cohere around representations of Blackness, Indigeneity, and animality. The interspecies imaginary, rather than defaulting to a discriminatory rhetoric in which subaltern positions are flattened, instead maintains a subversive, decolonial effect in that its documentation produces new constellations of co-constitutive becoming. By highlighting the tiger and eel episodes in the novella, this essay argues that the interspecies imaginary magnifies the textures of violent contact between human and nonhuman species that shape how formations of gender, Blackness, and Indigeneity are productively tethered to and produced alongside animality.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
