TPCS 11: The human zoo after Abu Ghraib: Performance and subalternity in the 'cam era'

By Karel Arnaut

Abstract

The 'human zoo' can be productively used as a heuristic tool to explore and deconstruct contemporary performances in which 'actors' are exoticized or otherwise 'othered' by an exploitative, subjugating gaze. Human zoo subjects are typically caught up in a predicament that is made up of three false promises concerning (a) protection/destruction, (b) mobility/incarceration, and, (c) performance/absence of inter-subjectivity. Distinguishing between panopticism and post-panopticism, and between different forms of (de)humanization, enables us to explore subalternity and performance in contemporary settings of mediatized subjectivation in the 'cam era'. Instances of this can be found in (a) the mediatization of torture at Abu Ghraib and (b) the flourishing genre of 'exotic' reality television.

Keywords: Cultural anthropology, human zoo, panopticon, new media

How to quote (APA): Arnaut, K. (2011). The human zoo after Abu Ghraib: Performance and subalternity in the 'cam era'. (Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies; No. 11).

Read the full working paper here: The human zoo after Abu Ghraib: Performance and subalternity in the 'cam era'.