therianthropism

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English

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Noun

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therianthropism (uncountable)

  1. The representation of deities in combined human and animal form.
    • 1993, Steve Baker, Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity, and Representation, page 224:
      Therianthropism, as described in my chapter on the rhetoric of animality, appears only to operate successfully when used as a means of discrediting or demeaning other people. In showing them partly in animal form (or with animal characteristics or attributes), therianthropism does pictorial violence - symbolic violence - to the image of one's rivals or opponents.
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