재난 속의 동물 돌봄과 인간 — 『성지Cs』 속의 인간과 동물의 경계를 둘러싸고 —

Abstract

This article examines changes in the conceptual boundaries between humans and animals which may be prompted by their sharing a disaster, as described in Yusuke Kimura's Sacred Cesium Ground. Disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic can be an opportunity to recognize the commonality of human and animal experience, by temporarily relaxing the rigidity of the apparent boundaries between humans and animals. Yusuke Kimura’s novella concerns people who volunteer to care for livestock abandoned due to radioactive exposure, despite the dangers. This work reveals that the boundaries between humans and animals are already so complex that even the experience of disaster has a limited effect in shifting public attitudes. Furthermore, although the behavior of the volunteers, by caring for animals neglected after a disaster, may seem humane at first glance, in practice it tends to further strengthen the dominance of care-givers (i.e., humans) over care-receivers (i.e.animals). Nevertheless, the literary representation of abandoned animalsprovides an important counterweight to the relativization of animals and their interests, and offers encouragement to the minority of enlightened humans seeking to reconsider human dominance over animals, by transforming the relationship between animals and humans based on their shared experience of suffering.