A rhetoric of identification: Nature, gender, and culture in the study and protection of orangutans (Indonesia)

Forest fires, poaching, and deforestation are among the key causes of the rapidly dwindling orangutan population in Indonesia. As orangutans become increasingly endangered, primatologists and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) have worked to protect orangutans in their natural habitat before they become extinct. This study examines the literature that primatologists and ENGOs produce in order to explore how they create a rhetoric of identification.; In order to examine this rhetoric of identification, I develop a theory of identification based on the works of Jean-Francois Lyotard, Richard Rorty, and Kenneth Burke. Such a theory of identification challenges metanarratives and contingencies of language to engage in perspective by incongruity. I then examine how this theory of identification can be integrated into deep ecology and ecofeminist philosophies.; Using this theory of identification, I argue that ENGOs and primatologists create audience identification by constructing orangutans as cyborgs, emphasizing the intrinsic value of nature, and encouraging audiences to take responsibility for environmental degradation. However, ENGOs and primatologists also rely on a rhetoric of science to establish their credentials and offer proof of their claims. Such rhetoric distances audiences by objectifying orangutans and their habitats.; Motherhood also plays an important role in this rhetoric of identification. However, because emphasis on motherhood in orangutans risks essentialization of human female characteristics, this is a dangerous, yet powerful, rhetoric. Indigenous communities are also largely excluded from the study and protection of orangutans. Additionally, they are often characterized as uneducated, ignorant, or savage.; Ultimately, I contend that this rhetoric of identification is effective in bridging human and non-human dichotomies. However, organizational and primatological narratives of gender essentialism, simian cultural colonialism, and science need destabilization.