Transbiological Re-imaginings of the Modern Self and the Nonhuman: Zoo Animals as Transbiological Entities

Abstract

Biological and behavioral sciences rely heavily on a humanist discourse of species and matter that limits its inquiry to a set of phenomena that in some ways serve, resemble or define the ontology of the human self. In this essay I explore alternative ideas of biology that seriously restructure our thinking about the modern self. If, as Foucault suggests, power-knowledge shapes identities, norms and politics through the medical appropriation of bodies and through the production of scientific theories and practices, then what is the possible challenge to these forms of knowledge? I look at transbiology as a new branch of science that offers an alternative to the mainstream biological exploration of the body and the self, and maps new institutional cartographies of science and most importantly philosophical ontology.
 Author(s): Marianna Szczygielska
 Title (English): Transbiological Re-imaginings of the Modern Self and the Nonhuman: Zoo Animals as Transbiological Entities
 Journal Reference: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 10, No. 1-2 (Summer-Winter 2013)
 Publisher: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities – Skopje 
 Page Range: 101-110
 Page Count: 10
 Citation (English): Marianna Szczygielska, “Transbiological Re-imaginings of the Modern Self and the Nonhuman: Zoo Animals as Transbiological Entities,” Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 10, No. 1-2 (Summer-Winter 2013): 101-110.