Review article
Changes in Representation of Whales in Contemporary Culture
Jelena Bulić
; Hrvatski Institut za povijest
Abstract
The image of whales in different cultural practice and the interspecies relationship between humans and whales are main topics of this article. The changes are studied diachronically, but also synchronically using the division of human animal relations made by Visković (1997). He distinguishes the economic, symbolic, artistic, sentimental, scientific and ethical approach towards the animal. Visković’s division is applied on different sources which are taken from various fields ranging from literature and film to ethnology and ecology. This extensive outline and popular approach tries to give an overview of multiple and mutable images which have been dominant in different periods in history. This article starts with a short analysis of the earliest approaches, symbolic and artistic, only to continue more extensively with whaling, that is the economical approach which has a special place in history of human-whale relations. Whaling, herein analyzed, is primarily viewed on basis of its cultural presuppositions and characteristics.
The twentieth century has been given special attention since it implies simultaneous presence of all the mentioned approaches. It also brings forth many questions on the nature of whales, as well as on the nature of ourselves.
Keywords
whale; human; interspecies relationships; representations
Hrčak ID:
53567
URI
Publication date:
10.6.2010.
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