Near Human: Border Zones of Species, Life, and by Mette N. Svendsen PAPERBACK

Rutgers University Press

Near HumanBorder Zones of Species, Life, and Belonging\nAuthor(s): Mette N. Svendsen\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Rutgers University Press, United States\nImprint: Rutgers University Press\nISBN-13: 9781978818217, 978-1978818217\nSynopsis\nNear Human takes us into the borders of human and animal [url] the animal facility, fragile piglets substitute for humans who cannot be experimented on. In the neonatal intensive care unit, extremely premature infants prompt questions about whether they are too fragile to save or, if they survive, whether they will face a life of severe disability. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork carried out on farms, in animal-based experimental science labs, and in hospitals, Mette N. Svendsen shows that practices of substitution redirect the question of \""what it means\"" to be human to \""what it takes\"" to be human. The near humanness of preterm infants and research piglets becomes an avenue to unravel how neonatal life is imagined, how societal belonging is.