The term “animacy” is not one that can be pinned down by an exact definition precisely because it is utilized across different interdisciplinary studies to disturb understood relations among the animate, inanimate, and “ . . . stubborn binary systems of difference” (Chen, 3). The use of Aristotle’s idea of the soul as an animating principle for humans, animals, and vegetables (plants), but not for “dead” matter like stones, sets the stage for a shift from viewing life through biological factors, such as DNA, to understanding life through the soul as an “animating principle” (Chen, 4). This idea of the soul as an animating principle becomes crucial when understanding the relation of environmental threats (or “dead” matter) to specific communities. What caught my attention the most were the examples in Chen’s books that discussed the relation between life and death and the consequences that it has in race and sexuality politics; in particular, the section on biopolitics and what bodies were privileged enough to be discussed as in danger when discussing environmental threats.
We see certain bodies being privileged over others because the realm of biopolitics is heavily influenced by a Eurocentric lens that values the white body over all others. According to Foucault, biopower works at the level of the government and at the level of individual subjects, which comes into play when examining the coverage of illness or potential threat of certain communities. Chen uses the example of the exposure of a toxin, like lead, and its effectivity/affectivity in “ . . . young white bodies, and their displacement of deathly black and contagious Asian bodies . . .” (Chen, 7). Biopower operating at the government power would be seen through the coverage and tracing of such illness back to specific (colored) bodies, while sanctifying the undeserving (white) bodies that were affected as collateral damage. Animacy is important in understanding the role of “dead” matter and its ability to have this “animating principle” when analyzing the ways in which different communities are stigmatized or seen as victims.
We see this phenomena perpetuated heavily in mass media, particularly in news coverage and protection of certain bodies over others. For example, time and time again we see coverage of white folks who are in areas that have been contaminated with dangerous toxins; they are elevated to status of humans and victims who are not to blame for the unfortunate situation brought about by the dangerous element in question. When there is an outbreak in a community of people of color, there is an immediate association of viewing these communities as “ghetto”, therefore blaming the communities themselves for putting themselves at risk of said environmental toxin. As Chen puts it, there is a displacement of colored bodies because they are construed as “deathly” and inherent of attracting toxins that put their survival at risk. I feel that Chen’s piece on animacy and its interpretation of “dead” matter playing a significant role in the re-evaluation of the perceptions of different communities is significant because the role of the “dead” matter itself had never really been fleshed out in such a way.
-Luis
We see certain bodies being privileged over others because the realm of biopolitics is heavily influenced by a Eurocentric lens that values the white body over all others. According to Foucault, biopower works at the level of the government and at the level of individual subjects, which comes into play when examining the coverage of illness or potential threat of certain communities. Chen uses the example of the exposure of a toxin, like lead, and its effectivity/affectivity in “ . . . young white bodies, and their displacement of deathly black and contagious Asian bodies . . .” (Chen, 7). Biopower operating at the government power would be seen through the coverage and tracing of such illness back to specific (colored) bodies, while sanctifying the undeserving (white) bodies that were affected as collateral damage. Animacy is important in understanding the role of “dead” matter and its ability to have this “animating principle” when analyzing the ways in which different communities are stigmatized or seen as victims.
We see this phenomena perpetuated heavily in mass media, particularly in news coverage and protection of certain bodies over others. For example, time and time again we see coverage of white folks who are in areas that have been contaminated with dangerous toxins; they are elevated to status of humans and victims who are not to blame for the unfortunate situation brought about by the dangerous element in question. When there is an outbreak in a community of people of color, there is an immediate association of viewing these communities as “ghetto”, therefore blaming the communities themselves for putting themselves at risk of said environmental toxin. As Chen puts it, there is a displacement of colored bodies because they are construed as “deathly” and inherent of attracting toxins that put their survival at risk. I feel that Chen’s piece on animacy and its interpretation of “dead” matter playing a significant role in the re-evaluation of the perceptions of different communities is significant because the role of the “dead” matter itself had never really been fleshed out in such a way.
-Luis