Caged Pedagogies: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Affect, and Colonial Experience

• In Event: 34.079 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 34.079-7 - Curriculums of Popular Culture

Abstract

This paper examines the complex fictions narrated by Disney’s Animal Kingdom regarding the people, animals, and places represented in their attractions and exhibits. In particular, this paper asks how Disney’s affective zoo pedagogies are experienced during a visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This critique focuses primarily on the African Safari and the representation of African and Asian people, places, and animals as a neo-colonial legacy of the Western imperial project.

Authors

• Jason Michael Lukasik, Augsburg College

• Jennifer April Sandlin, Arizona State University