Geopolitics of Cuteness
Are pandas just cute cuddly wild animals? Or are they also tools of biopower, imperialism, colonialism, and the machinery of capitalist industrialization in China? This project invites us to observe pandas from multiple angles—biological, political, and through the lens of cuteness theory while raising provocative questions about the human–animal relationship.
It unpacks the entire “panda mechanics” revealing the hidden power plays behind panda diplomacy and urging us to weigh whether pandas belong to the realm of wildlife or domesticated pets. If cloning lets us mass-produce pandas, how would their symbolic value shift? And how might those choices reshape the geopolitics of cuteness and the future of panda diplomacy? These questions unfold in a series of “Speculative Cartographies,” diagrams that lay out the panda mechanics for all to exam.
It unpacks the entire “panda mechanics” revealing the hidden power plays behind panda diplomacy and urging us to weigh whether pandas belong to the realm of wildlife or domesticated pets. If cloning lets us mass-produce pandas, how would their symbolic value shift? And how might those choices reshape the geopolitics of cuteness and the future of panda diplomacy? These questions unfold in a series of “Speculative Cartographies,” diagrams that lay out the panda mechanics for all to exam.
