ANT376H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Ambrose Bierce, John Berger
Document Summary
Watching = not simply a human action. Reading and seeing go together; reading of and reading on. Reading of bodies (human bodies onto animal bodies); animal reading back onto human body. Act of seeing as act of apprehending/perceiving. Act of seeing = crucial to formation of animal. Representation = principal in how we encounter animal. Animals = objects that are seen and not seen. Post-renaissance art depicts male actors (actions of observation) while female body = image of object who appears. Women watch themselves as objects -> oppression. Women and animals = visualized objects and objectification; exchange. Humanity began with unique relationship with real animals - disappeared in 19th century. Exchange - abyss of non-comprehension; active exchange - potent distinction. Creates possibility of something we"re not in control of/predictable. Situates in notion that animals have secrets. In original exchange that we"ve lost, the human sees themselves as the surroundings are seen by him. Shaping the way we see, think, experience.
