Zootopia: Utopia and Dystopia in the Zoological Garden

Zootopia: Utopia and Dystopia in the Zoological Garden

Description

Published in Earth Perfect? Utopia, Nature, and the Garden, Annette Giesecle & Naomi Jacobs, eds.

In this essay I coin the term 'zootopia' to express the utopian and the dystopian impulses at work at the zoo and to allude to their tightly intertwined nature. The essay's first section explores zootopia as a paradise, a place where people live in harmony with a romanticized nature. Simultaneously, zootopia is also a rational project that involves careful planning and detailed control over both animals and their habitat. Finally, the zoo is a theme park: a garden for human entertainment and consumption. In order to survive, the zoo must sell tickets, animal figurines and sponsorships, crackers for feeding the elephants, giraffe art, and the like. Ultimately, the zoo's presentation of nature is utopian, in the sense that it confirms current ideals and makes room for hope about nature's future. However, the awe and amusement that this visitor experiences at the utopian zoo are often overlaid with the fear and guilt implied by the dystopian message that is also present in this space.

Publication Date

2012

Publisher

Black Dog Press

City

London

ISBN

9781907317750

First Page

242

Keywords

anthrozoology, zootopia, utopia and dystopia, zoo gardens, animal studies, animal geographies, consumption

Disciplines

Law | Sociology

Comments

This record does not contain full text. If available, click on the "DOI" link to see where the full text of the item is located. If you are a UB student, or faculty or staff member and unable to access the full text at the link, try searching for the item in Everything Search (https://search.lib.buffalo.edu/discovery/search?vid=01SUNY_BUF:everything). If not available, request via Delivery+ (https://library.buffalo.edu/delivery/).

Zootopia: Utopia and Dystopia in the Zoological Garden

Share

COinS