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Donna Haraway Teddy Bear PDF
Donna Haraway Teddy Bear PDF
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"Natureteaches law and orderand respectforproperty.If these people cannotgo to the country,
thenthe Museum mustbringnatureto the city."'
"I startedmythoughtson the legendof Romulusand Remus who had been suckled by a wolfand
foundedRome, but in thejungle I had mylittleLord Greystokesuckledby an ape."2
HallandtheTheodoreRooseveltMemorialintheAmeri-
I. The AkeleyAfrican
can MuseumofNaturalHistory:Experience
In theheartofNewYorkCitystandsCentralPark--theurbangardendesigned
by FrederickLaw Olmstedto heal the over-wrought or decadentcitydweller
witha prophylacticdoseofnature.Immediately acrossfromtheparktheTheodore
RooseveltMemorialpresidesas the centralbuildingof the AmericanMuseum
of NaturalHistory, a monumental reproduction of theGardenof Eden. In the
Garden,WesternMan maybeginagain the firstjourney,the firstbirthfrom
withinthe sanctuary of nature.An institution foundedjust afterthe CivilWar
anddedicatedtopopulareducationandscientific research,theAmerican Museum
ofNaturalHistory is theplaceto undertake thisgenesis,thisregeneration.
Passing
through theMuseum'sRooseveltMemorialatriumintotheAfricanHall,opened
in 1936,the ordinary citizenmayentera privileged space and time:the Age
of Mammalsin theheartof Africa,scene of theoriginof our species.3A hope
in everyarchitectural
is implicit detail:in immediate visionoftheorigin, perhaps
thefuturecan be fixed.By savingthebeginnings, theend can be achievedand
the presentcan be transcended. AfricanHall offersa uniquecommunion with
natureat itshighestandyetmostvulnerable moment, themoment oftheinterface
oftheAge ofMammalswiththeAge ofMan. Thiscommunion is offered
through
thesenseofvisionbythecraftoftaxidermy.
Restorationoftheorigin,thetaskofgenetichygiene, isachievedinCarlAkeley's
AfricanHall by an artthatbeganforhimin the 1880swiththecrudestuffing
of P.T. Barnum'selephant,Jumbo, whohad been rundownbya railroadtrain,
theemblemof theIndustrial Revolution. The end of histaskcame in the1920s,
withhisexquisitemounting of theGiantof Karisimbi, thelone silverbackmale
gorillathatdominatesthe dioramadepictingthe site of Akeley'sown gravein
themountainous rainforestoftheCongo,today'sZaire.So itcouldinhabit Akeley's
monument to thepurity of nature,thisgorillawas killedin 1921,thesameyear
the Museumhostedthe Second International Congressof Eugenics.Fromthe
20
"OfthetwoI wasthesavageandtheaggressor."32
LIFE STORIES
Africastandsbeforehim-a resultofAkeley'sdream."38
"Transplanted
ThevisionCarlAkeleyhadseenwasoneofjunglepeace.Itwasthisthatheneeded
topreserve permanently fortheworld.Hisquesttoembody thisvisionalonejustified
to himself his hunting,turnedit intoa tool of scienceand art,thescalpelthat
revealedtheharmony ofan organic,articulateworld.Let us followAkeleybriefly
through his technicalcontributionsto taxidermy in orderto graspmorefullythe
storieshe neededtotellaboutthebiography ofAfrica, thelifehistoryofnature,i.e.,
thenaturalhistory oflife.Akeleyandothershavesummarized manytimesinprint
how his laborstransformed taxidermy from the stuffingof animals intoan art
He enjoyedretelling
pistol.""5 theapocryphal story ofsevenGermansinWorldWarI
mistakenly surrendering to one American in France whentheyfoundthemselves
facedbyanAkeley."Thefundamental difference between theAkeleymotion-picture
cameraand theothersis a panoramicdevicewhichenablesone to swingit all
about,muchas onewouldswinga swivelgun,following thenaturallineofvision."59
Akeleysemi-joked in knowingpunson thepenetrating and deadlyinvasiveness
of thecamera,namingone of hisimagemachines"The Gorilla.""'The Gorilla'
had taken300 feetof filmof theanimalthathad neverheretofore been taken
alive in its nativewildsby anycamera....I was satisfied-more satisfiedthana
manevershouldbe-but I revelledinthefeeling."60
The taxidermist, certainof theessentialpeacefulness of thegorilla,wondered
how close he shouldlet a chargingmale get beforeneglecting the camerafor
thegun."I hope thatI shallhave thecourageto allowan apparently charging
gorillato come withina reasonabledistancebeforeshooting.I hesitateto say
just whatI considera reasonabledistanceat the presentmoment.I shallfeel
verygratified if I can get a photograph at twentyfeet.I shouldbe proudof
mynerveif I wereable to showa photograph of himat tenfeet,butI do not
expectto do thisunlessI am at themomenta victimofsuicidalmania."''Akeley
wrotethesewordsbeforehe had everseena wildgorilla.Whatwastheboundary
of courage;how muchdid natureor man need protecting? Whatif thegorilla
nevercharged,even whenprovoked?Whatif the gorillawerea coward(or a
female)?Who,preciselywas threatened in the dramaof naturalhistory in the
earlydecadesofmonopoly presenceinAfricaandAmerica?
capitalism's
Awareof a disturbing potentialof thecamera,Akeleysethimself againstfak-
ing.He stuffed Barnum's Jumbo, buthewantednopartofthegreatcircusmagnate's
cultivation of theAmericanpopularartform,thehoax.62 Buthoax luxuriated in
earlywildlifephotography (andanthropological photography). In particular,
Akeley
saw unscrupulous menmanipulate natureto tellthestoryof a fierceand savage
Africa;thiswas thestorywhichwouldsell in themotionpictureemporiaacross
America.Taxidermy hadalwaysthreatened to lapsefromartintodeception, from
lifeto upholstered deathas a poorsportsman's trophy. Photography too was full
ofphilistines whocoulddebasetheentireundertaking ofnaturework,theMuseum's
termforitseducational workintheearlydecadesofthe20thcentury. The Museum
wasforpublicentertainment (thepointthat its
kept Presbyterian trusteesresisting
Sundayopeningin the 1880sdespitethatday'sfinepotentialforeducatingthe
newCatholicimmigrants, whoworkeda sixdayweek);butentertainment onlyhad
valueifitcommunicated thetruth. Therefore, Akeleyencouraged an association
betweentheAmericanMuseumand thewildlife photographers, Martinand Osa
Johnson, whoseemedwillingand able to producepopularmotionpictures telling
thestory ofjunglepeace.Johnson claimedinhis1923prospectus totheAmerican Mu-
seum,"Thecameracannotbedeceived... Itherefore, ithas]enormous scientific
value."'
Entertainment withscience,art,hunting,
was complexlyinterwoven and education.
III. TellingStories
order,withitsspecificandpolymorphous hierarchiesofrace,sexandclass.Withan
ear forthetonesofaudience,historicalmoment, socialinterests
andintentions
of
authors, appearanceofsources,I wouldliketoconsiderin
andthematerial-physical
greaterdetailthequestionofstorytelling.In particular,
whosestoriesappearand
disappearin theweb of social practicesthatconstituteTeddyBear Patriarchy?
Questionsofauthorized enforced
writing bypublishing practicesandoflaborthat
neverissuesin acknowledged authorship(neverfatherof thegame)makeup my
story.69
AUTHORS AND VERSIONS
"She didn'twriteit.
She wroteit but she shouldn'thave.
She wroteit,but look whatshe wroteabout."70
CarlAkeley'sbook,In Brightest Africa,appearson thesurfaceto be written by
Carl Akeley.But we learnfromMaryJobeAkeley,a prolificauthor,thatthe
taxidermist"hatedtowielda pen."71She elaboratesthatthepublishers, Doubleday
andPage (themen,notthecompany), wereenthralled byCarl'sstoriestoldintheir
homesat dinnerand so "determined to extracta bookfromhim."So one evening
afterdinnerArthur W. Page"stationeda stenographer behinda screen,andwithout
Carl'sknowledge, sherecordedeverything he saidwhiletheguestslingered before
thefire."Theediting isthenascribedtoDoubledayandPage,butthe
ofthismaterial
authoris namedas Carl.The stenographer is an unnamedhand.Thesenotesgave
risetoarticlesina journalcalledWorld'sWork, buta bookwasstillnotforthcoming
fromthetaxidermist. Then Akeleydiscovereda newspaperaccountof hisKivu
journeythathegreatly liked;thepiecehadbeenwritten byDorothy S. Greenewhile
she workedforthedirectorof theAmericanMuseum.Akeleyhiredher as his
secretary,to recordhisstorieswhilehe talkedwithotherexplorers or
or scientists
lecturedto raisefundsforAfricanHall. "She unobtrusively jotteddownmaterial
whichcouldbe usedina book."72WhowroteIn Brightest Africa?In theanswerto
thatquestionresidesa worldofmotivated historyoftherelation ofmindandbodyin
Westernauthorship.
The physicalappearanceof thebooksis itselfan eloquentstory.The stampof
approvalfrommenlike H.F. Osbornin the dignified prefaces,thepresenceof
handsomephotographs, a publishinghouse thatcateredto wealthyhunters:all
the
compose authority of thebooks.The frontspiecesare likeOrthodox icons;the
entirestorycan be read fromthem.In Lions, Gorillasand theirNeighbors,thebook
preparedforyoungpeople,thefrontspiece showsanelderly CarlAkeleyinhisstudio
gazingintentlyintotheeyesofthe plasterdeathmask of thefirstgorillaheeversaw.
Maturityin the encounterwith natureis announced. The Wilderness LivesAgain,
thebiography thatresurrectedCarlthrough hiswife'svicariousauthorship,displays
in thefronta youngCarl,armandhandbandagedheavily, standingoutsidea tent
beside a dead leopardsuspendedbyherhindlegs.The captionreads: "Carl Akeley,
The willedblindness
of thewhiteloverof natureremainedcharacteristic
of the
scientists
whowentto theGardento studyprimates, to studyorigins,
untilcracks
beganto showinthisconsciousness
around1970.
disease,whenleprosy, andCharlotte
masturbation, PerkinsGilman'sneedtowrite
allqualified?),
andsocialdisease(likestrikesandfeminism) alldisclosed
ontologically
andepistemologically similar
disordersoftherelationsofnatureandculture.Deca-
dencethreatened in twointerconnectedways, bothrelated to functioning
energy-
limitedproductive systems.The machine(remember theiconicpoweroftherail-
road)and itsfierceartificialitythreatenedto consumeand exhaustman.Andthe
sexualeconomy ofmanseemedvulnerable ontheonehandtoexhaustion andonthe
othertosubmergence inunrulyandprimitiveexcess.Thetrustees ofthe
andofficers
museum werecharged withthetaskofpromoting publichealthinthesecircumstances.
EXHIBITION
PROPHYLAXIS
artefacts oftheAmerican
andpractices MuseumofNaturalHistory.
Theirpractice
dead literal.
andminehavebeenliteral,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The staffin the archivesof the AmericanMuseum of NaturalHistoryhave earned a special thanks
forcourtesyand competence. Friendsand colleagues who have generouslycommentedon draftsof
Teddy Bear includethe membersof the 1984 FeministTheoryseminarof the Historyof Consciousness
Board at the Universityof CaliforniaSanta Cruz, and JimClifford,Barbara Epstein,Sandra Harding,
Val Hartouni,Nancy Hartsock,Rusten Hogness,JayeMiller,DorothyStein,and AdrienneZihlman.
Robert Filomeno helped withlibraryresearchat a crucial time.WendyGraham of Social Text was a
wonderfuleditor.Alexander,Sojourner,and Moses were unfailingly impatient.
NOTES
1. HenryFairfieldOsborn,Reportto theTrustees,AmericanMuseumof NaturalHistory,May, 1908,
and in JohnMichael Kennedy.Philanthropy and Science in New YorkCity: The AmericanMuseum of
NaturalHistory,1868-1968,Yale UniversityPh.D., 1968,Univ. Microfilms,Inc., 69-13,347 (hereafter
Kennedy).The AmericanMuseum is hereafterAMNH.
2. EdgarRice Burroughsin IrwinPorges,EdgarRice Burroughs:The Man WhoCreatedTarzan(Provo,
Utah: BrighamYoung Univ., 1975),p. 129.
3. OsbornbelievedHomo sapiensarose inAsia and important MuseumexpeditionsintotheGobi desert
in the 1920sweremountedin an attemptto provethisposition.However,Africastillhad special meaning
as thecore ofprimitivenature,and so as originin thesense ofpotentialrestoration, a reservoiroforiginal
conditionswhere "true primitives"survived.Africawas not establishedas the scene of the original
emergenceofourspecies untilwellafterthe 1930s.Fora creativeschizo-analysis ofAfricaas thelocus for
the inscriptionof capitalistdesire in history,see William Pietz (PitzerCollege), "The Phonographin
Africa: InternationalPhonocentrismfromStanleyto Sarnoff,"paper fromthe Second International
Theoryand Text Conference,Southampton,England,1983.
4. The bodyas generativepoliticalconstructionhas been a majorthemein feminist theory.See Nancy
Hartsock,Money, Sex, and Power (NY: Longman,1982); Valerie Hartouni(Historyof Consciousness
UCSC) in ms. on Greek and Roman versionsof citizenshipin genderedbodies; D.J. Haraway,"Animal
Sociology and a NaturalEconomy of the Body Politic,"Signs 4 (1978): 21-60; and forreflectionson
meaningsofcitizenshipinthisessay,Social Research,Winter1974,essaysfromtheNew School forSocial
Research"Conferenceon the Meaningof Citizenship."Lacanian feminist theoryhas probablybeen the
mostcreativeand the mostproblematicexplorationof"woman's" body as not citizen,not author,e.g.,
Helene Cixous,"The LaughoftheMedusa," inElaine Marksand Isabelle de Courtivron, eds. New French
Feminisms(Amherst:Univ. of MassachusettsPress, 1980).
5. The Deauvereaux or HotelColorado inGlenwoodSprings,CO, containsa plaque withone versionof
the originof the Teddy Bear, emblem of Theodore Roosevelt: T.R. returnedempty-handedfroma
huntingtripto thehotel,and so a hotelmaidcreateda littlestuffedbear and gave itto him.Wordspread,
and theBear was manufacturedin Germanyshortlythereafter. Anotherversionhas T.R. sparingthelife
ofa bearcub,withthestuffed versioncommemorating hiskindness.It is a pleasureto compose an essayin
feministtheoryon the subjectof stuffedanimals.
and Importing
Exporting as a Commodity
ofNature:Nature-Appreciation 1850-1980," in
Perspectives
AmericanHistoryXII (1979): 517-60.
"TheGospelofWealth,"
96.AndrewCarnegie, NorthAmerican
Review,1889;G. WilliamDomhoff,
Who Rules America? (NJ: Prentice-Hall,1967); Waldemar A. Nielson, The Big Foundations (NY:
ColumbiaUP, 1972);GabrielKolko, The Triumph (NY: FreePress,1977);James
of Conservatism
Weinstein,The CorporateIdeal in theLiberalState,1900-18(Boston: Beacon, 1969); RobertWiebe, The
(NY: HillandWang,1966);RichardHofstadter,
SearchforOrder,1877-1920 AgeofReform (NY: Knopf,
1955);E. RichardBrown,RockefellerMedicineMen(Berkeley:U Calif.Press,1978);Paul Starr,The
ofAmericanMedicine, esp. chpts.3-6 (NY: Basic, 1982); AlexandraOleson and
Social Transformation
JohnVoss, eds., The Organizationof Knowledge in Modern America, 1860-1920(Baltimore: Johns
HopkinsUP, 1979).
in thefieldwithAkeleywas GeorgeEastman,an objectlessonin themonopoly
97.One capitalist
greater ofdecadencethanofdeath.I amclaiming
capitalist's fear thatrealismis an aestheticsproperto
anxietyaboutdecadence,butwhatkindofrealism ina literature
iscelebrated describing a septagenarian
Eastmangettinga close-upphotographat 20feetofa chargingrhino, hiswhitehunter
directing whento
shootthegun,whilehispersonalphysician lookson?"Withthisadventure Mr.Eastmanbegantoenjoy
Africathoroughly..."WLA,270.
98. BrunoLatour,Les microbes.Guerreetpaix suivide irreductions
(Paris: Metailie,1984),pp. 171-265;
BrunoLatourand Steve Woolgar,LaboratoryLife: The Social Constructionof ScientificFacts (Beverly
devicesand"phenomenotechnique";
Hillsand London:Sage, 1979),esp. on inscription KarinKnorr-
CetinaandMichaelMulkay,eds.,ScienceObserved (BeverlyHills,London,NewDelhi:Sage,1983).
alreadycited(esp.KennedyandAMNHarchives),
99.In additionto material majorsourcesforthis
sectioninclude:1)Ondecadenceandthecrisisofwhitemanhood:F. ScottFitzgerald,TheGreatGatsby
(1925);HenryAdams,TheEducationofHenryAdams(privately printed1907);ErnestHemingway,
GreenHillsofAfrica(1935).2) Onthehistory Roderick
ofconservation: Nash,ed.,Environmentandthe
Americans:Problemsand Priorities(Melbourne,Florida: Kreiger,1979) and AmericanEnvironment:
Readings in theHistoryof Conservation,2nd ed. (Reading,MA: Addison-Wesley,1976); Samuel Hays,
Conservationand the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890-1920
racedoctrines,
HarvardUP, 1959).3) On eugenics,
(Cambridge: Send
JohnHigham,
andimmigration:
in UrbanAmerica(NY: Atheneum,1975);JohnHaller,Outcasts
These to Me: Jewsand otherImmigrants
(NY: Knopf,1977);Kenneth
(Urbana:IllinoisUP, 1971);AllanChase,LegacyofMalthus
fromEvolution
Ludmerer,Geneticsand AmericanSociety(Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUP, 1972);Donald Pickens,
Eugenics and the Progressives(Nashville:VanderbiltUP, 1968); S.J. Gould, The Mismeasureof Man
MIT Press,1979);
FromGenesisto Genocide(Cambridge:
(NY: Norton,1981);StephanL. Chorover,
and theHeredity-Environment
HamiltonCravens,TriumphofEvolution:AmericanScientists Controversy,
Univ.Of Pennsylvania
1900-41(Philadelphia: Press,1978).Complexconcernsaboutsex, sexuality,
decadence,birth
hygiene, controlarecrucialtotheproduction intheearlydecadesofthe
ofsexresearch
20thcenturyinlifeandsocialsciences.Womenscientistsplayeda keyroleingeneratingthisresearch.
Rosalind Rosenberg,Beyond Separate Spheres: IntellectualRoots of Modern Feminism(New Haven:
Yale UP, 1982).Theincitement hasbeeninstrumental,
todiscourse tosaytheleast,intheconstructionof
"selfconsciousness" of womenas a socialgroup.See Catharine
and selfdescription A. MacKinnon,
"Feminism, Marxism, Method,andtheState:AnAgendaforTheory," Signs7, no.3 (1982).The issueis
closelyconnected tothe"being"ofwomanas spectacleandtheneedfora feministtheory ofexperience.
Smallwonder thatfilmtheory isbecomingoneoftherichestsitesoffeminist
theory. Teresade Lauretis,
Alice Doesn 't:Feminism,Semiotics,and Cinema (Bloomington:Indiana UP, 1984) and AnnetteKuhn,
Women's Pictures:Feminismand Cinema (London, Boston, Melbourne,Henley: Routledge & Kegan
Paul,1982).
d'histoire
at L'Institut
100.CamilleLimogesand hiscollaborators des sciences,
et de sociopolitique
de Montreal,
Universite providethemostcomplete oftheParisnatural
analysis museums
history from the
early19th Gerald
century. Holton andWilliamA. Blanpied,eds.,Scienceand ItsPublic:The Changing
Relation(Dordrecht:
Reidel,1976).
101.Kennedy,141ff.
Osborn overconsiderable
presided disbursements
totheDepartment
ofAnthropology,
despitehisownopinionthatanthropology
waslargely"thegossipofnatives."
Osbornwasmoreinclined
to
favor
theskeletonsofdinosaursandmammals, andheisresponsibleforbuilding
oneoftheworld's
finest
paleontologycollections.H.F. Osborn,Fifty-two
Years ofResearch,Observation,and Publication(NY:
AMNH,1930).
192.
102.Kennedy,
103. PhilipPauly,AmericanQuarterly,1982.
104.Osborn,"TheAmerican Museum andCitizenship,"
53rdAnnualReport, 1922,p.2.AMNHarchives.
105.Osborn,TheHall oftheAge ofMan,AMNHGuideLeafletSeries,no.52.
106.Osborn,"Citizenship,"
54thAnnualReport, p.2.
107.Osborn,53rdAnnualReport, 1921,pp.31-32.EthelTobachoftheAMNHhelpedmeinterpret and
findmaterial
on socialnetworks,
eugenics, andsexismat theMuseum.The organizing
racism, meetings
fortheGaltonSocietywereheldinOsborn'shome.
108.Joseph
Conrad,esp.HeartofDarkness, iscrucialtothisaspectofmystory, forexploring
especially
oflanguage
complexities anddesire.SeealsoFredric
Jameson, "RomanceandReification:PlotConstruc-
tionandIdeologicalClosureinJosephConrad,"ThePoliticalUnconscious (Ithaca:CornellUP, 1981).
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