The Anthropology of the “depicted Animals” : Focusing on the becoming in animals and humans

Keywords

Animal,Depiction,Becoming

Objectives

Why are people captivated by animals? As Lévi-Strauss (2001) once asked, why do we give picture books and toys of animals to children soon after they are born even though our direct relationship with animals has diminished in modern times ? The objective of this research project is to explore such questions by considering the possibility of the “depicted animal” as a “becoming” that opens a circuit between humans and animals, and allows one to perceive things that have not been perceivable before. To do this, we will reinterpret the following four questions — 1) How are animals perceived? 2) What are they depicted with? 3) Why are they depicted? and 4) What kind of occasions are depictions or depicted animals produced and who are they needed by? — to view them as dynamic phenomena that include overlapping and negative space, by examining specific cases. And in order to tackle this problem in a more in-depth manner, we will examine “animal depiction” as the “opening of new facets through mutual becoming between animals and humans” as presented by Deleuze and Guattari, using the anthropological technique of “becoming” with the other (Ingold). Specifically, we aim to examine these questions and open up new horizons for understanding animals by reproducing the process of dynamic becoming between the depicting person and the depicted animal to shed light on what manifests in the act of “depicting animals, depicting using animals, and depicting with animals,” while referring to findings from cognitive science and physical experience.

Research Results

This inter-university research project examined the broad question of why people are captivated by and depict animals with a focus on the context and process of producing depictions, while comparing various genres such as visual arts , music, theater, and dance. We identified issues and held an external workshop to which we invited guest lecturers. The workshop yielded a certain degree of results, such as deepening discussions by sharing the occasions actual animal depictions are produced . The following three key issues were raised during the discussions .
1) Mutual becoming between humans and animals occurs when we leave human space and venture into that of animals, as presented by Deleuze and Guattari. Examples of this are attempting to experience the physical body of an animal when dancing a dance, and producing chimeric images in the spaces of contact between different cultures and between the human and non-human. We confirmed that this invokes new perceptions in people through examining a variety of cases.
2) There are differences and commonalities depending on the format of depictions. The inter-university research project defined “depiction” as broad as possible, based on having the quality of being able to be presented before our eyes in some form and experienced by us. We compared a variety of formats including not only the visual arts but also sound, physical expression, and fashion. Based on this, we determined characteristics such as their shareable scope and the differences in the affects they result in.
3) Why do people depict animals? We first examined primitive examples of animal depiction in cave paintings, hunting and gathering groups, and pastoral societies. This showed that depiction can produce connections with animals, deepen understanding of animals, and contribute to the sharing of that knowledge; and the depictions can not only be shared with humans but also with animals. However, it was also pointed out that although animal depictions in contemporary society provide enjoyment and joy, the problems caused by the easy consumption of animal images must also be considered.