TY  - UNPD
A1  - Pettier, Jean-Baptiste
T1  - Who is the weak? : a critical examination of the construction
of 'weak' and 'strong' interests from the case of dog protection in chinese society
T2  - Frankfurt working papers on East Asia ; No. 10
N2  - Mobilizations in defence of ‘companion animals’ have become major sites of contestation in Chinese society in recent years. They often reject the existing ambiguity between the use of these animals as pets and as meat, demanding unambiguous respect for and protection of dogs. However, in a society where inequalities are as significant as in China, where the level of poverty, sickness, and environmental and industrial tragedies appears overwhelming, one may ask how pets’ destinies have become such a symbolic focus and source of occasional fury – for both Chinese and foreign audiences. Taking this question seriously, this article aims to examine such mobilizations in China – demanding the protection of dogs – as a starting point to theoretically unwrap the more general problem of how the perception of certain beings as ‘weak’ and as deserving the protection of society is socially constructed, and what the related choices imply. I argue that to better understand these mobilizations to protect dogs, we should not separate the focus of the calls for protection from the social web of relationships and oppositions in which they are entrenched.
T3  - Frankfurt working papers on East Asia - 10 
KW  - mobilizations
KW  - China
KW  - protection
KW  - victims
KW  - social justice
KW  - dogs
Y1  - 2016
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/42765
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-427658
UR  - https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/64214368/WP-10-2016_Pettier_Online.pdf
SN  - 2190-7080
SN  - 1869-6872
PB  - IZO, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Ostasienstudien
CY  - Frankfurt am Main
ER  -