Captive in Perspective

Abstract

Critiques on animal welfare in the 1970s has urged zoos to shift from leisure-oriented institutions to institutions that focus on conservation, research, and education on nature. Zoos are institutions in which humans participate in the process of cultural self-definition against an opposed nature that is varied and constructed by humans. Understanding the representations that zoos present to their visitors thus allows for an understanding of how human-animal relationships are re-constructed and produced. This thesis, through 16 semi-structured interviews, a content analysis with a discourse analytic approach, desk research, participant observation and multispecies perspective, explores how the variety of representations of the white rhino in GaiaZOO reflect and materialize the position that humans hold within nature through an anthropological lens. Through analysing structural processes of the zoo, visual representations on sight and on social media accounts as well as the organizational structure of GaiaZOO, the position of humans within nature is uncovered. This thesis illustrates that despite the best efforts of zoos to bridge the gap between humans and nature in the process of becoming conservation and nature-oriented institutions, they are trapped in a series of contradictions that limit their potential to achieve their set goal. Human domination, that is present within all the processes explained in this thesis, does not only keep animals physically captive but also captive in the perspective of humans. Therefore, this thesis argues that, within their limits as institutions made by humans for humans, zoos have ground to gain to reach their full potential as nature-oriented institutions.