Defamiliarization (ostranenie) of other animals in literary and visual narratives

This thesis focuses on the manifestation of arrogant anthropocentrism in contemporary literary and visual media. It explores the enculturation of humans starting from early childhood in the family and the larger society toward a set of norms constructed around human supremacy over nonhuman animals. It utilizes defamiliarization2 as a critical method to make nonhuman animals visible who are more often otherized and objectified in the dominant normative culture. It maintains that defamiliarization is needed to deconstruct the physical and epistemic violence toward animals and recognize them as individuals rather than exploitable natural resources who are classified according to their use-value for the human species. Lastly, it draws a trajectory for a non-anthropocentric modality for incorporating animals in visual arts, aiming to contribute to societal and cultural change by challenging human sovereignty and doing justice to animals in literary and artistic representations.