A history of whales in contemporary Brazil: A study of media reports on deaths of cetaceans

Abstract

This essay seeks to understand the sensitive responses of contemporary perspectives and experiences in dealing with whales washed up on beaches killed largely by plastic pollution in our seas and oceans. Identified in Brazilian online mass-circulation periodicals and denounced by environmentally engaged art, the interactions between the bodies of whales and culture are interpreted in the light of studies of the history of human–non-human–animal relationships, human sensibilities triggered by this contact, and media reports denouncing the current environmental crisis and raising awareness of the importance of protecting species, in this case cetaceans. Through the Brazilian periodical press, one can see, in the record of whale deaths, the sensitivity toward non-human animals and the concern with the explanations of this phenomenon.