Feralizing the Human/Animal Distinction in Bhanu Kapil's Humanimal

Abstract

© 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System n April 7, 2017, Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post reported, “Amid a troop of monkeys in the Katraniaghat forest range in northern India roamed a naked human girl, playing with primates as if she were one of them. She looked emaciated, her hair disheveled. But she appeared in a comfortable state, until the police arrived.” Within twenty-four hours, Schmidt retitled the article “Accounts of Girl Raised by Monkeys in India Questioned” and made an editor’s note available to readers: “New information has been reported since publication of this story that raise significant doubts about the veracity of the initial accounts on which it was based. . . . While the girl appears to have been abandoned near the forest in question . . . officials do not believe she had been living among monkeys.” The updated report confirmed that the monkeys had protected the girl from the police officer who extracted her from the jungle and although the girl was said to screech and walk on all fours, new sources (including chief forestry officer J. P. Singh) found the “wild child” speculation unbelievable. How would she have escaped leopards and other predators in the sanctuary? Why would she be wearing clothes? Why hadn’t anyone living in the area already recognized her? The next day, a new article, written by Karin Brulliard and Swati Gupta, documented the quick transition from “the ‘Jungle Book’–like tale of a young girl said to have been found living with monkeys”―a A K A S H B E L S A R E