Reappropriating the treadmill of production : a case study of dolphin activism in Singapore.

Abstract

This thesis looks at the ongoing confrontation between Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), and the local animal welfare rights group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) and its supporters. The dispute arose over RWS’ holding of wild dolphins in captivity and its plans to use them in a marine theme park. Using a neo-Marxist framework, I argue that RWS commodifies dolphins, turning these natural beings into items of “recycled culture”, thus lubricating and enhancing what Allen Schnaiberg calls the “treadmill of production”. I then look at how members of the opposing activism movement perform “naturework” with regards to dolphins. This thesis shows how by strategic social construction of their cause in order to pressure RWS to free the dolphins, the movement has effectively re-appropriated and reversed the treadmill of production to a certain extent.