The Dialectics of Containment: How Photographic Representations of Non-Human Animals Transform the Everyday.

Abstract

By se ng a diverse selec on of visual and textual representa ons, including my own photographic enquiry, in dialec cal opposi on, this paper exposes and challenges the inherent ideologies and philosophical posi ons which underpin the social prac ces used to maintain control over the canine popula on in Cyprus. Using a polyvocal approach, whereby a number of dis nct streams of discourse run in parallel through the paper, I provide an imagina ve space where no ons of power and coercion, iden ty and representation can emerge and be subject to scrutiny. This approach leads, I propose, to a re-evalua on of our understanding of, and hence rela onship with, non- human animals, par cularly in rela on to the poli cs of marginalisa on and otherness. This paper then, seeks to navigate the complex territory between representa on and ‘reality’, revealing how representa on is able to transform the everyday by conferring meaning, which in turn can provide a catalyst for social ac vism.