| dc.description.abstract | This thesis works to cultivate a feminist understanding of the phenomenon of human- animal transformation in contemporary performance art. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s post- structuralist concept of becoming-animal as an analytical tool, and ethnographic studies of shamanism and tarantism, I begin by activating the concept in relation to performance, recognising the ‘work’ of becoming-animal as a form of efficacious healing. By employing feminist perspectives on female hysteria, I create a foundation for an empowered understanding of the performative practice of becoming-animal, which I construct throughout this thesis. I then consider how human-animal transformation manifests in the field of contemporary Western performance art across theory and practice, and to what purpose. Using the work of Joseph Beuys, Marcus Coates, and Simon Whitehead, I argue that the practice of becoming-animal can be understood as a form of social and ecological healing in contemporary society. By embracing the progressive approach of these artists, who all take the animal seriously as living sentient beings, turning towards them for alternative forms of knowledge, I then point to how this might evolve to support a feminist understanding of the practice. Here I use feminist theories of ecofeminism and intersectional feminism to support an understanding of feminism that extends to all minorities who suffer oppression under Western patriarchal systems, including animals and the environment. From this perspective I then offer a detailed analysis of three works of performance art by female artists. I argue that through the female-animal alliance of becoming-animal they all radically reject the identity categories prescribed to them by Western phallocentric discourse, thus creating a new environment of ‘other-than-identity’ through transformation, in which they become visible. Supported by Donna J Haraway’s concept of becoming-with, I argue that it is through this creation of new environments, in transformative alliance with animals, that we find empowerment of minorities and a form healing that extends towards our damaged planet. I call this becoming-with-animal. | |
