Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2025
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in English
Department
English
First Advisor
Neill Matheson
Second Advisor
Cedrick May
Third Advisor
Amy Tigner
Abstract
Drawing on three fields of study, Animal Studies, Black Studies, and Shakespeare Studies, this dissertation examines animal triangulation as a system of oppression in which three constituents are triangulated for the benefit of the oppressor. Through triangulation, the oppressed/oppressor duality expands, creating a triad: the oppressor, the proxy, and the oppressed. This reimagining of the traditional binary of oppression opens new areas of conversation by adding an additional component. In animal triangulation, a proxy is created when an oppressor trains an animal or an animalized human to produce an abusive outcome on an oppressed group. By using a proxy, the oppressor removes the act of oppression from themselves and places that onus on an animal or animalized human. The oppressor is still morally culpable, but the proxy blurs the role of the oppressor in the aggression. In fulfillment of the oppressor’s desires, the proxy acts out the subjugator’s instructions and creates a desired outcome for the oppressor on a third party—the oppressed. The use of a proxy complicates the
oppressed/oppressor binary and builds on its relational connection to concepts such as animalization and color coding. I engage a wide swath of literary temporality including Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest, Frederick Douglass’ My Bondage and My Freedom, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones. By examining animal triangulation both in literature and in real life instances, a clearer picture of the dangers in animalizing groups as well as the detrimental effects of color-coding emerges. Thus, animal triangulation, especially as it relates to the training of the proxy, becomes a pivotal point in recognizing areas of oppression. By recognizing the suffering of the constituents located in the triangle, a potential for empathy develops thereby disrupting oppression.
Keywords
animal studies, animal triangulation, animalization, color coding, dehumanization, empathy, mechanical hound, oppression, robot dogs
Disciplines
African American Studies | Animal Studies | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Renaissance Studies
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Abelanet, Katherine A., "ANIMAL TRIANGULATION – EXPANDING THE OPPRESSED/OPPRESSOR BINARY TO A TRIADIC CONSTITUENCY: THE OPPRESSOR, THE PROXY, AND THE OPPRESSED" (2025). English Dissertations. 117.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/english_dissertations/117
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Animal Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Renaissance Studies Commons