Altered Animals, Posthumanism, and Technology in Contemporary Narratives

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-93523-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 234 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Perspectives on the Non-Human in Literature and Culture

Altered Animals, Posthumanism, and Technology in Contemporary Narratives incorporates critical posthuman theory to explore depictions of the "altered animal." In the context of rapid developments in artificial intelligence, cloning, cybernetics, genetic engineering, and robotics, stories about technological interventions into animal bodies and environments provide critical insights into the cultural impacts of these technologies.

Bringing together posthumanism and animal studies in analyses of narratives from a range of genres and media formats, contributors explore how the identity of altered animals is constructed, how technological alterations impact the relationships between humans and nonhuman animals, and how critical posthumanism can provide insights into the perspectives of these animals. The collection demonstrates the intersecting technological and cultural factors that influence animal identity, the role that media and genre play in how audiences perceive altered animals, and how a posthumanist approach to these narratives can lead to more reflective and ethical engagements with altered animals.

This interdisciplinary volume will appeal to scholars and students in literary studies, animal studies, posthumanism, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities, as well as readers interested in the ethical dimensions of emerging technologies.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Millar, Monica

Sanderson, Jerika

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Stoffe, Motive und Themen
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften, Biologie: Sachbuch, Naturführer
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Altered Animals in 20th- and 21st-Century Narratives and Discourse

Part 1. Altered Bodies: Animal Agriculture, Technology, and Genetics

Altered Animals, Altered Verses: Dolly the Sheep and the (Cyber)Pastoral in Contemporary Anglophone Poetry; Happy to be Processed: Virtual Reality and Farmed Animals in Speculative Media; Bioengineered Nonhuman Animals and the Political Status of Pigoons in the MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood; "I can control them! I made them that way!": Altered Animals in Twentieth-Century Animal B-horror Movies

Part 2. Altered Existence: Animals and their Environments

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Animal Adaptation and Evolution Via Technology in Love, Death & Robots; Neurological Hitchhikers: Altered Animals in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy; Deep Minds to Deep Re-evolution: Roboanimals and Hybrid Ecologies in Daniel Wilson's Robopocalypse Duology; Terraforming Aesthetics: Biomimetic Machines and Planetary Rejuvenation in Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West

Part 3. Altered Boundaries: Animalizing the Human and Humanizing the Animal

"Men, Not Monsters": The Emotional Self in The Lunar Chronicles' Wolf-Human Soldiers; The Altered Neanderthal in Biomedicine, De-extinction Discourse, and James Bradley's Ghost Species; The Kinship of SpeciMen in Nnedi Okorafor's Ecodystopian Narrative, The Book of Phoenix

Part 4. Altered Relationships: Kinship and Companion Species

The Laika Variations: The Space Race, Scientific Research, and Children's Picturebooks; Posthumanism, Trauma, and Multispecies Teams in Children's Films: The Nonhuman Cyborgs Sparky and Sox in Frankenweenie (2012) and Lightyear (2022); Robot Dogs as Dystopian Companions in Television Series; Cyberpunk Strays: Animal Lives in a Human Dystopia

Über Autor(innen)

Monica Millar (née Sousa) holds a PhD in English from York University. She specializes in contemporary science fiction, animal studies, and posthumanism, and has published widely on the topics. She currently teaches courses across several university English departments in Ontario, Canada.

Jerika Sanderson completed her PhD in English at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her dissertation investigated depictions of xenotransplantation and de-extinction in the media, industry, and fiction. Her research focuses on narratives about biotechnology, medicine, and the environment, and she has taught courses on science communication and climate change.