Representation: Structure and Meaning

Abstract

In this chapter I will describe what I see as the basic outline of non-human political representation in order to give an account of what goes on when we represent. The starting point for this reflection is given by the following issues: what is the structure of political representation, who or what is being represented, by whom, and what kinds of subjects does this activity engage? I will start with a very brief overview of these issues in classical representation, 1 juxtaposing them with environmental political thought in order to see how our political conception of representation is modified (if at all) by the inclusion within its scope of non-human beings. Seeing how the goal of this chapter is to offer an account of non-human representation, it might seem strange to start with humans. Why, after all, not go straight to the center of the problem, and engage directly with the nature that we seek? As I hope to show, non-human representation is mostly about humans, and it is there that we must continually return if we are to keep any kind of footing in an otherwise complex and confusing activity. Furthermore, the borders between animality and humanity, or humanity and the natural (understood as the not human-made), are notoriously porous, and have routinely functioned as mechanisms of human exclusion (Bourke, 2011). These shifting borders, and their inherent lack of clarity, give important insights into a theory of representation, by bringing some clarity to the process: when we speak for others, we might just be-unknowingly or otherwise-consolidating ourselves. That is yet to be shown. For now it suffices to say that an investigation into the representation of non-humans has to start with, and continually return to, those fidgety political animals that, having become a geological force, find it necessary to endow animals and nature with political being. 2 M. Tanasescu, Environment, Political Representation, and the Challenge of Rights