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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
On May 31 2010, the Australian Federal government ‘instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice against the Government of Japan’ regarding its whaling operations in the Southern Ocean (ICJ 2010). On May 30 2011, footage of conditions inside Indonesian slaughterhouses were covered in in an award winning exposé by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, thenational public broadcaster. A week later the Federal government banned the live export of Australian cattle to Indonesia. In both instances, the Federal government responded to significant public outcry over the treatment of ‘our whales’ and ‘our cows’.
In juxtaposing these two examples, this paper will highlight commonalities across public opinion about whaling and the (overseas) slaughter of Australian cattle — particularly with regard to concerns about the ways (certain) animals are treated by cultural Others. Exploitation and cruelty are seen as being rooted in different (i.e. non-western) practices. Through framing such practices as barbaric, gruesome, uncivilised and evil, Japan and Indonesia are portrayed as being not like ‘us’. And ‘we’ are not like them. What emerges is the socio-cultural construction of relational difference: of good versus bad (Hage 2000).
Whereas whaling and the slaughter of cattle by cultural Others provide the immediate contexts, in this paper I argue that what has transpired is not really about Japan or Indonesia. Rather, it is about Australian identity. In particular, what is at stake is how Australian’s perceive themselves and want to be perceived — through selective references to the treatment of ‘our’ whales and cows. What I label as a form of animal nationalism (Davis 2013). As an extension, political and cultural claims about nation, citizenship, rights, responsibilities and belonging are directly linked to (white) Australia’s insecurities as a never-quite-postcolonial outpost situated in the Asian south.
Dr Colin Salter is a Research Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, at the University of Wollongong. He is a cultural-political sociologist, with an interest in conflict and social change. As a broader frame, he engages with key macro and microsociological elements, and normative assumptions, central to disputes within and across cultures. His current research draws on critical animal studies, postcolonial studies, international relations and subcultural theory to explore the dispute over whaling in the Southern Ocean. In particular, the relational construction and performance of identify. Colin’s publications include the books Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex (2014, co-editor) — winner of the Central New York Peace Studies Consortium Peace Studies Book of the Year Award; Whiteness and Social Change (2013); and papers Animals and War: Anthropocentrism and Technoscience (2015); and Activism as Terrorism: The Green Scare, Radical Environmentalism and Governmentality (2011).
Information on participating / attending:
Admission free! Eintritt frei!
Date:
10/20/2015 19:00 - 10/20/2015 21:00
Event venue:
Universität Hamburg, Allende Platz 1, Raum 1.38
20146 Hamburg
Hamburg
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, Students
Email address:
Relevance:
regional
Subject areas:
Environment / ecology, Nutrition / healthcare / nursing, Oceanology / climate, Philosophy / ethics, Zoology / agricultural and forest sciences
Types of events:
Presentation / colloquium / lecture
Entry:
09/28/2015
Sender/author:
Birgit Kruse
Department:
Referat Medien- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event52062
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