Entering the Contact Zone: Encountering the Animal in Children's Fantasy Fiction and Film

Abstract

This thesis examines the concept of entering the contact zone within the framework of children’s fantasy literature and film. It is conducted at the intersection where children’s literature, philosophy, posthumanism and animal studies meet. The term ‘contact zone’ describes the act of two entities moving into a physical space where their world views collide. Placing a philosophical lens over the spaces of children’s stories, opens up a dialogue between humans and animals, examining the boundaries between. This thesis places humans and non-humans in direct relation to one another within fantastical spaces, where ontological categories are problematised and begin to shift. Each contact zone provides a unique context for different kinds of ‘becomings’ between humans and animals, perpetuating distinct types of world-building and relationship formations exclusive to that space. This thesis argues that space plays a critical role in crossing boundaries, as the physical world potentiates, dictates and shapes the types of interactions that can occur within it when engaging with otherness. The spaces that interest this thesis are the imaginary landscapes of fantasy writing. This thesis explores the scope of children’s fantasy literature in approaching ‘the other’ and embraces impossible becomings in impossible spaces. Through examining the imaginary and the liminal, along with hybrid bodies and non-existent creatures, this thesis aims to open up new ways for thinking and being in a multispecies posthuman world.