The Coat and the Constitution
Animal Surfaces as Sites of Encounter
Nøgleord:
Material culture, Human-animal relations, animal skin, parchment, furResumé
This article explores human-animal relationships through two different yet materially similar artefacts: a second-hand coat made of mink pelts and the Danish 1849 constitution written on parchment made from sheep and calf. Considering these “faceless” animal skins reveals how animal surfaces act as “animal-made-objects” and sites of human-animal encounter. Through a material culture lens and recent theoretical perspectives, the article shows how animal matter remains active after death and postmortem processing, complicating conventional boundaries between humans and animals.
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