Name of the Mallan, Kerry. (2019). The Wild Child: Posthumanism and the Child–Animal Figure.

source (full Ecocritical Perspectives on children’s Texts and Cultures: Nordic dialogues. In
citation) Barnboken (Vol. 42). 225-239. https://doi.org/10.14811/clr.v42i0.383

Main In this article, Mallan addresses the anthropocentric notion of the child and animal
Argument/Main as inherently wild and possibly disruptive through the exploration of child-animal
Claims/Summar figure in selected children’s books.
y The author begins by outlining assumptions around children and animals, citing
Freud and Smol. She notes that there is a long-held belief of child and animal as the
other and disruptive. This is further supported by the assumption that children’s
literature is connected to the uncivilized (p.225). Furthermore, the author points out
that children’s literature indeed supported this notion by noting The Jungle Book and
Where the Wild Things Are where “wild children” and their potential for disrupting
the normal are portrayed.
She argues that a posthumanist reading of books with child-animal characters
challenges this anthropocentric notion by breaking down the boundaries between
human and non-human, nature and culture, wild and domesticated (p.226). Using a
diagram based on the NatCul Matrix (p.12), the author maps The Wild Boy (Gerstein
1998), The Savage (Almond 2008) and I Was a Rat! (Pullman 1999) in relation to
their treatment of the wild child.
From these readings, the author argues that the text implicitly encourages readers to
take into account the ethics of behaviour and responsibility towards the other who
are different (p.237). Using the modified NatCul Matrix, the author also suggests that
these texts illustrates that anthropocentrism and ecocentrism can be expressed in
extremes (p.238). The matrix also offers a way to see these two views as a
continuum instead of binary opposites (p237).
Key Quotes with Context: posthumanist reading of text
page numbers “…posthumanism opens up ways for rethinking notions of the wild child, which rely
on the child in need of taming and instruction in the ways of civilised society in order
to become truly human” (p.226)
Context: the exploitation of the wild-child narrative
“Children’s literature continues to exploit the idea of “wild” children and their
potential for disrupting normality.” (p.226)

Notes and This idea of child-animal as posthuman is an interesting notion, one that is related to
Observations my interest in the character Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The
article provides a useful template for a possible posthumanist reading into the tv
series.