Domestication, Agency and the Appeal of the Cute Object
Seminar poster
A presentation given at The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness symposium at University of Amsterdam, April 8-10, 2015
I begin with a brief overview of the scientific research on cute affect: first to show how it has impacted scholarship on the aesthetics of cuteness; and second, to demonstrate its potential to lead the study of cute aesthetics in profitable new directions (Sherman and Haidt).
I compare the etymology and usage of the English “cute”to the Japanese “kawaii”in order to demonstrate that the association of “cute”with aggression and violence made by scholars working in English (Ngai) should be seen as merely a part of, rather than the basis for, the overall aesthetic of cuteness (Nittono).
I introduce research on newly domesticated Siberian foxes that suggests the genes informing tame behavior and a cute appearance in our companion species may be expressed coevally, thus tying together the capacity for interspecies cooperation and a cute appearance at a genetic level (Trut).
This alternative reading of cuteness allows for a stronger theory of agency on the part of the cute object. Rather than view the response to cuteness as stemming solely from helplessness and dependence, I associate it with aspects of prosocial behavior and engagement such as companionship,cooperative action/play and emotional reactivity. A cute object invites our approach as much as we want to approach it.
I end by exploring the hypothesis that the genes for cooperative behavior and a cute (neotenous) appearance may be tied together in the human genome as well. If humans have undergone a process of “self-domestication”(Hare), it would explain why our response to cuteness—an evolutionary adaption that evolved as a means to both nurture andsocialize children—is so profligate, transferring easily to other objects and enabling the explosion in “cute culture”that this symposium is analyzing today. rture and socialize children—is so profligate, transferring easily to other objects and enabling the explosion in “cute culture” that this symposium is analyzing today.