Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Stark, Hannah

Titel

The Cultural Politics of Mourning in the Era of Mass Extinction: Thylacine Specimen P762

Ist Teil von

• Australian humanities review, 2018-11 (63), p.65

Ort / Verlag

Bundoora: Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL)

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Because the thylacine was extinct within 133 years of European invasion, P762's remains are a poignant rem(a)inder of a species that was lost as a by-product of Western imperial expansion. P762, along with M27836 (a skull) and M822 (skin and a skull) are the specimens whose DNA was sampled in the Australian Museum's resurrection project which began in 2001. Because alcohol (as opposed to formaldehyde) is a DNA preservative, P762's almost 150-year-old organs were harvested in an attempt to extract viable DNA. From a resourcing perspective, it is difficult to justify the enormous expense of deextinction projects in the face of the impending extinctions that we are currently experiencing. [...]the logic by which de-extinction is justified often focusses on the redemption of humans for past actions and inactions and through taking responsibility for creating new species futures. [...]in our time of anthropogenic mass extinction, dwelling with extinction-taking it seriously, not rushing to overcome it-may actually be the more important political and ethical work.