Wildspace

Abstract

This chapter brings a discussion of 'the cage' from a number of related angles for both human and nonhuman subjects and spaces. Comparisons between humans confined in maximum security conditions in prisons and jails, and nonhuman animals confined in cages in zoos and other zoo-like structures, offer a number of opportunities to study the relative histories, practices, experiences, and politics of caging. The chapter explores and compares the movements and rights discourses surrounding each, examining their effectiveness, relative successes, and roadblocks. It considers the critical intersections of caging non-human and human bodies in American zoos and prisons, and the oppressions and structural inequalities that span species boundaries. The zoo as a site for modern entertainment, education, or scientific study emerged in continental Europe in the eighteenth century, and in the UK and US. in the nineteenth century. Most zookeepers readily admit the obvious, that the best way to 'save' wild animals is to protect their habitats and sanctuaries.

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