Human-animal relationships and ecocriticism: a study of the representation of animals in poetry from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa

[摘要] This study analyses the manner in which animals are represented in selectedpoetry from Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It discusses the various modes ofanimal representation the poets draw on, and the ideological influences on theirmanner of animal representation. It explores the kinds of poetic forms the poetsemploy in their representation of animals and examines the manner in whichecological or environmental issues are reflected in the poetry. Further, the studydetermines the extent to which the values expressed in the poems are consistent with,or different from, current ecological orthodoxies and the ways in which the metaphorsgenerated in relation to animals influence the way we treat them.The study shows that in the selected poetry animals occupy a significantposition in the poets’ exploration of social, psychological, political, and culturalissues. As symbols in, and subjects of, the poetry animals, in particular, and nature ingeneral, function as tools for the poets’ conceptualisation and construction of a widerange of cultural, political, and philosophical ideas, including among others, issues ofjustice, identity, compassion, relational selfhood, heritage, and belonging to thecosmos. Hence, the animal figure in the poetry acts as a site for the convergence of avariety of concepts the poets mobilise to grapple with and understand relevantpolitical, social, psychological and ecological ideas. The study advances the argumentthat studying animal representation in the selected poetry reveals a range of ecologicalsensibilities, as well as the limits of these, and opens a window through which to viewand appreciate the poets’ conception, construction and handling of a variety ofsignificant ideas about human to human relationships and human-animal/naturerelationships. Further, the study argues that the poets’ social vision influences theiranimal representation and that their failures at times to fully see or address theconnection between forms of abuse (nature and human) undercuts their liberationistquests in the poetry.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand